Cornes: The best person to captain the Cats

Who is the best person to captain Geelong in 2027?

With Patrick Dangerfield turning 37 in April, Kane Cornes thinks now is the ideal time to find a new on-field leader.

But if not Dangerfield, who takes over? That's the big question for Cornes, with no obvious replacement waiting in the wings.

With that in mind, Cornes put forward Toby Greene as the best person to captain the club despite the former GWS skipper only joining the club earlier this month via free agency.

He discussed Geelong's leadership predicament with Sam Edmund on SEN Breakfast.

Cornes: "Is the best person to captain Geelong Toby Greene?"

Edmund: "No."

Cornes: "Why?"

Edmund: "He's just walking in the door."

Cornes: "But is he the most credentialed player on Geelong's list to captain the team?

"People will largely disagree with it. But if you deep-dive and deep-think about who the best person to captain the Cats is, it's Toby Greene.

"Dangerfield doesn't need to be captain of that club anymore. Connor O'Sullivan's not ready. Bailey Smith and Max Holmes aren't suited to captaincy."

Edmund: "There's a name you're forgetting. Tom Stewart."

Cornes: "Toby Greene's a better leader than Tom Stewart."

Edmund: "Yeah, but Tom Stewart's been there and served in leadership positions at that club and has a working relationship with all the senior players and the coach over a long period of time. So, I think he would make more sense to me personally.

"Toby Greene's captaincy credentials are there for all to see; I'm not disputing those. I'm just stating, at a new club with everything else you'll have going on..."

Cornes: "If you lined up and asked, 'Who is the best credentialed player to captain the Cats?', it's Toby Greene.

"Now, I'm not saying that's going to happen, and I'm certainly not saying he's going to walk in there and put his hand up and want to captain this great club. I'm not."

Edmund: "Do they make a change?"

Cornes: "I don't know who to. This is the whole point I'm raising. There isn't an obvious replacement for Dangerfield. So they probably go again with him.

"But I think Tom's got his own issues, certainly from a body and form point of view. I don't think he wants to be taking on that responsibility of captaincy. O'Sullivan is the obvious one, but it's two years too early, maybe three years too early for him.

"Then there's no obvious choice. So I don't know."

Dangerfield has captained the club for the last four seasons, while Tom Stewart has served as vice-captain for five straight years.

Stewart turns 34 at the start of the 2027 AFL season.