Player Column – Dylan Main Round 13

PERSONALLY, I was very honoured to be voted in as captain of South Fremantle, a team I have grown up barracking for my whole life and playing for since starting back in the development squads. 

After only being notified a couple of weeks before the vote that our longest serving captain, in Ryan Cook, would not be in the running for captaincy it all happened relatively quickly. 

Cook believed it was time for him to sit back and help nurture a new generation of leaders into the role and fortunately that meant I got the opportunity with Mason Shaw as vice-captain. 

Obviously, there is far more responsibility required than previously for myself, however I am really enjoying the role and am continuously learning along the way. 

For example, in the initial rounds of the season I felt I was trying to do too much and fix everything which subsequently hindered my own game and after numerous chats with Todd and some of the other leaders, they really clarified that I didn’t necessarily need to fix everything and could play my own game and lead by example which was just a good learning curve and reassurance for myself. 

Overall the transition into the captaincy has been made a lot easier with Cook still around, along with some other senior heads in the squad such as Hockey, Hams, Suban, Saunders and Schloithe. All these players along with some others have assisted majorly in making the transition as seamless as possible and have made my job a hell of a lot easier which I am grateful for. 

For those that don’t know, there are a lot of behind the scenes responsibilities and commitments accompanying the role, from the promotional side of things to the meetings after training every week and all the little conversations in between. 

From not being in any leadership roles since my colts days it was a huge jump up, however, as mentioned before it is something I’m really enjoying and am giving my full commitment to.

I am incredibly honoured to think one day I will be able to look back and say I captained such a great family club and hopefully I can continue on as captain for a long time yet with some success along the way.