Magpies To Wait On New Skipper As Burns Retires

The Age

Tuesday September 23, 2008

Samantha Lane

COLLINGWOOD'S next captain will be selected over summer from what the club president described yesterday as a "Melbourne Cup field", after the retirement of Scott Burns, who intends to become an assistant coach at a rival AFL side.

Josh Fraser and Nick Maxwell are the obvious candidates to fill the position for what will be a third change in as many years but, as it did when long-serving skipper Nathan Buckley retired last year, Collingwood chose not to name the incoming captain as the outgoing departed.

"It bemused me a bit last year when people said now there's a leadership vacuum. It's quite the contrary. It's a matter of which way you want to go," club president Eddie McGuire told The Age yesterday, adding that he favoured a sole captaincy.

"Mick (Malthouse) will work that out throughout the course of the summer, but it's a Melbourne Cup-type field.

"You've got the standout guys like Josh Fraser and Nick Maxwell, who's obviously a man of tremendous integrity, and there's a lot to be said for that. You don't necessarily have to be the No.1 player in the competition, but if you can get the combination, it's good. There's Scott Pendlebury, Dale Thomas ... Daisy's (Thomas) a really good face for football, he's a good face for young people coming through. But there's all manner of players and I've left out three-quarters of them. There's a good bunch of kids there."

Coach Malthouse said: "As usual, we will be cautious and weigh up all the options. We've got some younger players coming through and older players that are still playing for the football club and we've got a list that we're quite comfortable with."

Fraser was named Burns' vice-captain at the beginning of this season. Tarkyn Lockyer, Maxwell and Pendlebury were the deputy vice-captains. Harry O'Brien, Shane O'Bree, the recently retired Shane Wakelin, Anthony Rocca and Thomas also had unofficial leadership roles this year.

Burns, 33, said there was not a standout candidate to assume the leadership.

"But I think that's because I rate them all pretty highly."

Speaking in front of teammates, club staff, his wife and two children, Burns said he had known early in the season that 2008 would be his last. He played in rounds two and three before injuring a calf, returned in round seven and played until round 21 but could not get up for the finals.

"I pretty much knew midyear that I was battling body-wise, so it hasn't been a terribly hard decision in the last week or so."

Malthouse said Burns' impact on the club's young players had been "profound" and endorsed a foray beyond Collingwood.

"I think Burnsy's on the right track to go out and get as much experience as you can from other organisations and hopefully instead of an exodus from here that we've seen of people coming here coaching and going on to other clubs, we'll bring someone back eventually," he said.

© 2008 The Age

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