North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell officially announced on Tuesday that he won’t captain the club for a seventh season in 2023, opting to step away from the role he’s held since 2017.
In making his call, Ziebell flagged a desire to support the club’s next captain while he remains on the playing list as the Kangaroos go in a new direction under Alastair Clarkson.
North Melbourne GM of football Todd Viney credited Viney for his outstanding leadership and says he’s left the role in a good place.
“He’s been a great servant of the club under difficult circumstances,” Viney told SEN Breakfast.
“He had a little bit of success under Brad (Scott) when Brad was here
“But he’s had four coaches over his six-year tenure as captain so that certainly has its challenges.
“We talk about leadership sometimes being easy when you’re winning and going well, but the true test of leadership is when things aren’t going so well.
“We’ve been really buoyed by the players’ attitude and thrilled with the training and the contest which is a credit to ‘Ziebs’ and the leadership group for keeping everyone up after a tough couple of years.”
While North Melbourne have multiple experienced heads in their leadership group in Ben Cunnington and Luke McDonald, Viney expects the club to go with a younger option that can see the club through its current rebuild and beyond.
“We have got some candidates there in that older category,” Viney said.
“But I think we’ll probably look to go with someone that can go through this next change of the club, someone that can stand the test of time.
“We’re pretty young, we’ve got a good group of players 18 to 23 or 24 that have got some real talent.
“Then we’ve got a little bit of a gap in that really important age group from 24 to 28 or 29.
“We also have some really solid champion players in Ben Cunnington and Todd Goldstein who are a little bit older but getting towards the end.
“So I think we’ll probably go with someone who has a little bit more of a journey in their legs.”
North Melbourne’s 2022 leadership group consisted of Ziebell, McDonald (co-vice captain), Jy Simpkin (co-vice captain), Cunnington, Kayne Turner, Nick Larkey and Aiden Corr.
The Kangaroos kick off their 2023 campaign with a Round 1 clash against West Coast at Marvel Stadium on March 18.