Is Jake Friend the right choice as Captain?

[TheBigFella]

He's a great player & controls the team really well but I don't see him being very vocal or talkative. Freddy was a great example of what a Captain should be like. I also don't know if that's why he overplayed his hand a few times last week? He felt that extra pressure. I think that he really needs a talker to co-captain with him but with Jimmy & Pearce out of contention we really don't have that voice. Unless Cordner or JWH were to step into that role?

[stephenj]

firstly the captain has to be on the field, only jake is at the moment, asa forc maturity and respect id consider aubo, not a big talker but respected by all including refs

[roosterproud]

i think jrn horri should be the on field assistant capt

[Guest]

Cordner no way, as much a worry off the field as Pearce, Moa is the man but plays limited miuntes, SKD and JWH would be mine, Jake looks to be struggling with the task of running the team as captain and as hooker

[TheBigFella]

I'm just not sure who else we have that is vocal enough? Even taking the Captaincy out of the issue there doesn't seem to be a player who grabs the other blokes by the scruff of the neck. The only one I see like that is Jacko.

[ism22]

firstly the captain has to be on the field, only jake is at the moment, asa forc maturity and respect id consider aubo, not a big talker but respected by all including refs

Agreed. He isn't some larger than life, stately NRL captain. However, he's a chilled dude, knows his footy better than anybody else, stays outta trouble off-field and doesn't haggle with refs.

Unless you're Cam Smith, IMO refs hate being spoken to unless you're asking for brief clarification (no idea why refs back down and go 'sorry I must have made a bad mistake' when Smith has a whinge but they do). IMO a captain should be smart enough to know the rules (i.e. no need to question them) and mature enough to shut their trap rather than firing up and escalating things. I'm glad we don't have a violent captain who fires up at the refs (Graham/Gallen style) I know they are passionate, but it never ends well for them.

Jake's our best option. The only other player I would suggest is SKD... he's a 1 club player and is one of our longest serving players. He's also a really cool chook. However, I don't know if he knows the game as well as Friend (Friend's position involves an inherent amount of strategy/tactical play that a centre wouldn't have to be privy to). So... yeah I think Jake is our best option.

[Arties Pie]

I would go for Aubo until Jared comes back and then have Aubo as VC, let Jake work on his own game as imo his game hasn't been the same since becoming Captain.

[Cockadoodledoo]

Agreed. He isn't some larger than life, stately NRL captain. However, he's a chilled dude, knows his footy better than anybody else, stays outta trouble off-field and doesn't haggle with refs.

This isn't really true.

[Cockadoodledoo]

firstly the captain has to be on the field, only jake is at the moment, asa forc maturity and respect id consider aubo, not a big talker but respected by all including refs

I haven't seen any ref treat Jake with respect, not that I blame him for this.

[Guest]

There really are not too many realistic options at this point in time.

[Lydon]

There really are not too many realistic options at this point in time.

Too true!

[Thirteen]

No.

[Guest]

If Sonny comes back for 2017-18 I would make him captain immediately. I think he would be an inspirational captain who would lead from the front. It seems laughable that he would join us this year for a few matches, particularly if we are out of finals contention.

[novice chook]

I don't see any problem with Jake being captain. He leads by his actions, not his words, which is fine by me. Generally your halves are the ones who make the most noise, and do most of the directing and talking, whether they are captains or not. Jackson, apart from last Sunday, has been pretty good at that and Pearce will take that task on again when he returns.

Taking the captaincy away from Jake will do little more than piss the playing squad off, as there is no tangible reason for doing so. It would look like the club is punishing Jake when he has done nothing wrong. In fact it's the opposite, the bloke bleeds for the club and works himself to a standstill each and every week.

Jake as captain is the least of our issues at the moment. I'm not sure why people are so fixated on it. He cannot make Ferguson look any better at FB, make SKD run straight rather than across field, or make Jacko's kicks more effective.

[JAF]

In my opinion, a captain needs to be inspirational in both his words and actions. During tough times, he needs to show a cool head, be a calming influence and lead by example.
I believe the only person in our team who shows these attributes is JWH.
But is SBW does come back to the Roosters, then I would add that little "c" next to his name ...