Matthew Lloyd believes there are four captains currently in the AFL who should look to hand over their leadership role.
Travis Boak did so at Port Adelaide in 2018 and has since revitalised his career, making the 2020 All-Australian team.
“You probably had concerns over where Travis Boak was at in his footy, I think Port Adelaide had concerns about where he was at, but he’s reinvented himself, it looks like his body shape has changed, he’s gotten back into being in the best three midfielders in the game,” Lloyd told AFL Trade Radio.
“At that time, he also gave up the captaincy and he could focus a lot more on himself and getting back to the best footballer he could be.”
Lloyd looks at Essendon, St Kilda, North Melbourne and GWS as the four teams that could make a change.
“If I was these players, I would hand over the captaincy and get back to being the player I should be without the responsibility of being the captain of my club,” he said.
“The time has come for Jack Ziebell, he’s no Travis Boak, but Ziebell needs to hand over the captaincy and focus on being – I don’t know what he is at the moment – is he a midfielder, is he a forward?
“He’s sort of in no man’s land, he’s had a lot of injuries in that regard.
“If I was Dyson Heppell, I would look to hand over the captaincy and focus on getting his body right and putting all his energies into being a footballer and not meeting sponsors and coteries.
“If I was Stephen Coniglio, this is a controversial one, I would say ‘did it work, did I lose focus and is it best for me to maybe hand over the captaincy to a Toby Greene next year?’.
“Jarryn Geary, is it time for Jack Steele to take over and be the new generation for St Kilda?
“There’s four that I’ve got that could maybe consider it.”
Kane Cornes sees obvious captaincy candidates at Essendon and St Kilda, but worries about who would take over from Ziebell at North Melbourne.
“There are some clubs that have an obvious succession plan,” he said.
“You look at Essendon and Zach Merrett – he could fill that role no worries. You look at Jack Steele, I think he’d do a great job at St Kilda, North Melbourne I don’t see an obvious one, that would be the hard point for them and the turmoil they’re in, is it Luke McDonald? I don’t know.”