bornadog
25-07-2019, 09:33 AM
link (https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/wood-expecting-captaincy-discussion-at-end-of-season-20190724-p52ag7.html)
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Easton Wood is yet to be involved in a discussion about a succession plan for the Western Bulldogs captaincy but expects a discussion to take place at the end of the season.
Wood, who turns 30 in September, famously led the Dogs to the 2016 premiership, standing in as captain after Bob Murphy’s season-ending injury.
Murphy returned to the leadership in 2017 but retired at the end of that season, after which Wood was appointed skipper in a full-time capacity.
Wood has played all 17 games this year, leaving him on track to play every match in a campaign for the first time since he was drafted in 2007.
He remains in reasonable form, earning two AFL Coaches’ Association votes in Sunday’s loss to St Kilda, and is hopeful of playing for several more seasons.
Dogs star Marcus Bontempelli, 23, who sits second on the AFLCA champion player leaderboard, is vice-captain and has long loomed as Wood’s likely successor.
Wood said he loved the captaincy but envisaged a potential changing of the guard would be talked about at Whitten Oval later in the year.
“There hasn’t been any talk about succession planning but I’ve got no doubt we’ll have that conversation at the end of the year,” Wood told The Age on Wednesday.
“But I love the captaincy. It brings with it its challenges, but it’s an incredibly privileged role to have and the honour’s not lost on me.
“I’ve really enjoyed and learnt so much through my time being captain so far, so if I’m the right man for the job I’ll happily keep going, but it’s not something you can do forever.”
Wood said he’d been challenged by having to play regularly as a deep defender early this season but added that the inclusion of Jackson Trengove - who has played the past 12 games for the side - had made life easier.
“It’s been partly different at different times,” Wood said.
“We’ve had some injuries to our taller boys and obviously with Aaron Naughton swinging forward at the start of the year, earlier in the year I was probably playing a bit deeper than I was probably normally used to. But there’s never a year without its challenges. But I feel like I’ve adapted to that.
“What I’ve been really happy with is I’ve been fit.”
While the defeat to the Saints was a major blow to the Dogs’ finals chances, Wood spoke positively of the way his side had performed since the mid-season bye, while lamenting the inconsistency that has plagued the Dogs - who have beaten premiership fancies Geelong, Brisbane and Richmond this year but also lost to lowly Carlton, Gold Coast and the Saints.
“I’ve been really pleased with, particularly when we came back after the bye, what we’ve been able to do. I feel like we’ve really gelled and played some really strong football, and really connected as a group, which has been really, really pleasing,” Wood said.
“One thing that I think has been fantastic as well is I think we’ve had 10 or so boys re-sign to long-term deals, and obviously signing the coach [Luke Beveride] last week as well was fantastic. So it’s just a really good feeling amongst the group.”
And despite being a game and percentage outside the top eight, Wood was adamant that a return to the finals remained a realistic goal.
“Absolutely. Theres’s no game that we go into that we think we can’t win. We really feel if we bring our best we’ll beat anyone. It’s just the striving to make sure we can bring that every week. That’s our challenge, that’s everybody’s challenge.”
https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.8176596596596597%2C$multiply_1%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$ width_1059%2C$x_55%2C$y_90/t_crop_custom/w_414/q_86%2Cf_auto/fed035c101327fbc2afe41b6b6f1e99086c8879d
Easton Wood is yet to be involved in a discussion about a succession plan for the Western Bulldogs captaincy but expects a discussion to take place at the end of the season.
Wood, who turns 30 in September, famously led the Dogs to the 2016 premiership, standing in as captain after Bob Murphy’s season-ending injury.
Murphy returned to the leadership in 2017 but retired at the end of that season, after which Wood was appointed skipper in a full-time capacity.
Wood has played all 17 games this year, leaving him on track to play every match in a campaign for the first time since he was drafted in 2007.
He remains in reasonable form, earning two AFL Coaches’ Association votes in Sunday’s loss to St Kilda, and is hopeful of playing for several more seasons.
Dogs star Marcus Bontempelli, 23, who sits second on the AFLCA champion player leaderboard, is vice-captain and has long loomed as Wood’s likely successor.
Wood said he loved the captaincy but envisaged a potential changing of the guard would be talked about at Whitten Oval later in the year.
“There hasn’t been any talk about succession planning but I’ve got no doubt we’ll have that conversation at the end of the year,” Wood told The Age on Wednesday.
“But I love the captaincy. It brings with it its challenges, but it’s an incredibly privileged role to have and the honour’s not lost on me.
“I’ve really enjoyed and learnt so much through my time being captain so far, so if I’m the right man for the job I’ll happily keep going, but it’s not something you can do forever.”
Wood said he’d been challenged by having to play regularly as a deep defender early this season but added that the inclusion of Jackson Trengove - who has played the past 12 games for the side - had made life easier.
“It’s been partly different at different times,” Wood said.
“We’ve had some injuries to our taller boys and obviously with Aaron Naughton swinging forward at the start of the year, earlier in the year I was probably playing a bit deeper than I was probably normally used to. But there’s never a year without its challenges. But I feel like I’ve adapted to that.
“What I’ve been really happy with is I’ve been fit.”
While the defeat to the Saints was a major blow to the Dogs’ finals chances, Wood spoke positively of the way his side had performed since the mid-season bye, while lamenting the inconsistency that has plagued the Dogs - who have beaten premiership fancies Geelong, Brisbane and Richmond this year but also lost to lowly Carlton, Gold Coast and the Saints.
“I’ve been really pleased with, particularly when we came back after the bye, what we’ve been able to do. I feel like we’ve really gelled and played some really strong football, and really connected as a group, which has been really, really pleasing,” Wood said.
“One thing that I think has been fantastic as well is I think we’ve had 10 or so boys re-sign to long-term deals, and obviously signing the coach [Luke Beveride] last week as well was fantastic. So it’s just a really good feeling amongst the group.”
And despite being a game and percentage outside the top eight, Wood was adamant that a return to the finals remained a realistic goal.
“Absolutely. Theres’s no game that we go into that we think we can’t win. We really feel if we bring our best we’ll beat anyone. It’s just the striving to make sure we can bring that every week. That’s our challenge, that’s everybody’s challenge.”