It was the feel good AFL story of the summer when Hawthorn announced that Jarryd Roughead, fresh off beating skin cancer, would take over from Luke Hodge as the club’s 36th captain.
From his public announcement that his dreaded cancer had returned and spread in the middle of last year, it was longshot that key forward would ever play again. However, since he joyfully returned to full health, his chances of returning to the Hawks side have become shorter and last week’s announcement certainly confirmed that.
Although it’s great news that Roughead will now captain Hawthorn, the news was somewhat surprising, considering he is still yet to return to the field for a senior game and hasn’t played a single game since the 2015 Grand Final.
Roughead is clearly well loved around the league and Is seemingly on the road to full strength and a return to the field, but it would have made sense for an alternative to be found, at least until the big man had played a decent year of footy in 2017.
The problem the Hawks have and where Roughead’s appointment makes sense is the genuine lack of alternative options.
There is a clear changing of the guard going on at Waverley Park as the premiership era draws towards a close. Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis were both traded in shock deals during the Trade Period, Hodge probably only has a year left, Shaun Burgoyne and Josh Gibson weren’t realistic choices again because of age and Cyril Rioli hasn’t shown any sort of leadership potential throughout his career.
So, the old guard have either moved on or are close to retirement, meaning the Hawks had to look at the mid-tier players, aged in the 24-28 range. Isaac Smith and Liam Shiels were to only two notable candidates around that mark and both must have been in the race as they were awarded vice-captaincy positions beneath Roughead.
The issue with Smith and Shiels is they certainly don’t scream leadership and haven’t had to take on any major roles since being drafted because of that older and more seasoned group leading the way throughout their careers.
This lack of quality leadership options in the “prime” of their careers has been born out of an even bigger issue at Hawthorn, their lack of any quality players in around that age bracket, hence why their Trade Period saga with Gold Coast for Jaeger O’Meara was so drawn out and protracted.
The fairly obvious reason for this dearth of talent is Hawthorn run of recent success which means they either haven’t had draft picks or haven’t prioritised the draft in their list build. Any club would love to not have to worry about the draft, however this is the reality for the Hawks now.
It’s why for the first time since around 2010, Hawthorn aren’t at the top of the list of premiership contenders and an argument can even be made that they are in danger of missing finals for the first time since 2010.
Roughead’s return was going to provide an emotional lift regardless of his standing in the team, but now as captain, the fan favourite will lead a Hawks side, battling father time in an attempt to extend their premiership run.