Your AFL club's captaincy situation going into the 2025 season

What is your club’s captaincy situation heading into 2025?

As clubs return to pre-season training, counts will be held to pick new leadership groups and name skippers for the upcoming season.

Most clubs are locked and loaded with leaders in the role now that will continue for at least the next handful of seasons, while other captaincy situations aren’t as clear.

With that in mind, we’ve broken down how your club is looking from a leadership perspective heading into next season.

Captain: Jordan Dawson

Many were surprised when Dawson was given the captaincy initially, but he has surpassed every expectation as a Crow.

You would imagine he will lead the club indefinitely. They don't have any clear replacement at this stage, with Ben Keays the only vice-captain potentially in contention one day, but you'd imagine someone else will emerge first.

Captains: Lachie Neale & Harris Andrews

It's unlikely the Lions will make any changes coming off a premiership, unless either Neale or Andrews wish to relinquish the role.

Their system clearly worked in 2024. Play on. Hugh McCluggage serves as vice-captain alongside Josh Dunkley and is a long-term replacement option.

Captain: Patrick Cripps

Nothing to discuss here. It's Patrick Cripps' job until he retires or doesn't want it anymore.

The Blues have natural leaders behind him in Jacob Weitering and Sam Walsh as well as former skipper Sam Docherty, but nothing is changing here any time soon.

Captain: Darcy Moore

Darcy Moore will likely remain captain in 2025 and beyond, but it also wouldn't shock anyone if he chose to hand it over.

You just know Nick Daicos will captain the club at some stage, but maybe that's still a few years away. Brayden Maynard and Isaac Quaynor would be current vice-captains in contention if he opted to give it up in 2025.

Captain: Zach Merrett

Another one where little movement is expected. Merrett is the clear face of the club at Essendon and there isn't a clear option behind him leadership wise. Andrew McGrath served as sole vice-captain in 2024.

Captain: Alex Pearce

You would imagine at some point Pearce will hand the reins over to one of (or both of) Andrew Brayshaw and/or Caleb Serong.

Both are young, star midfielders of the competition and clear leaders within the four walls. Brayshaw's contract situation is one clear hurdle to leap before that discussion is had, however.

Captain: Patrick Dangerfield

The 34-year-old has been Geelong’s skipper for two years but isn’t certain to continue in the role in 2025, telling reporters that the captaincy will go to the right person for the job this season.

While it may still be Dangerfield for another campaign, current vice-captain Tom Stewart looks like an obvious replacement at 31 as he could do the role for the next few years.

If the club wants to take a long-term view of their captaincy situation, 22-year-old Max Holmes could be in the frame after showing off leadership capabilities in his 2024 Carji Greeves Medal-winning campaign.

Captain: Touk Miller and Jarrod Witts

At 28, Miller should continue in the job for the next handful of years, but his co-captain Witts, 32, might be closer to giving it up after six seasons in the role.

With Miller a near certainty to continue, perhaps another co-captain could step up if Witts has had enough and the obvious options are 2024 vice-captains Noah Anderson and Sam Collins.

Matt Rowell also seems like a player with immense leadership qualities with the way he goes about his football and could be a chance to join them in the leadership group.

Captain: Toby Greene

Expect Greene to continue in the role for a fourth straight season as he enters the 2025 campaign aged 31.

While Greene has led on his own in the last two seasons, he previously co-captained alongside Stephen Coniglio and Josh Kelly.

If the club wants to go back to a multiple-captain approach, young stars Tom Green and Sam Taylor are obvious picks given they’re 23 and 25 respectively and both served in the leadership group last season.

Captain: James Sicily

At 29, Sicily still has multiple years ahead of him as Hawthorn’s captain.

Behind him, 2024 vice-captain Dylan Moore should continue to serve as his understudy, but perhaps it’s time for his fellow vice-captain Luke Breust to step away from leadership as he enters 2025 at 34. Younger options to slot in as leaders include Jai Newcombe and Will Day, who are both 23.

Captain: Max Gawn

While Gawn turns 33 this month, you’d expect the 2021 premiership skipper to remain in the role given the instability in other areas of the club.

Given Gawn is the club’s best captain in the modern era, it’s probably his to decide when he wants to give up the leadership duties. If that does come this season or next, vice-captain Jack Viney, who led the club from 2017 to 2019, is an obvious next man up.

Captain: Luke McDonald and Jy Simpkin

North Melbourne will be hoping to turn a new leaf in 2025 after spending five consecutive seasons finishing in the bottom two on the ladder, and perhaps one way to usher in a new era is a change of leadership.

While Simpkin, who turns 27 at the start of the season, wouldn’t be expected to give up the role this season, it could be time for McDonald, who turns 30 in February, to make way for one of the club’s younger players.

Harry Sheezel is the clear choice in this department after the 20-year-old was elevated to the leadership group in just his second season. He seems destined to skipper the club for a decade at one stage, maybe 2025 is the year he begins in a shared role.

Captain: Connor Rozee

Connor Rozee only took over from Tom Jonas at the end of 2023.

He led the Power to a Preliminary Final in his first season at the helm in a campaign which threw up a few injury issues and had people questioning his form.

At 24, the opportunity is there for the South Australian to skipper his hometown club for a very long time.

Rozee’s deputy Zak Butters is a great fall-back option if anything goes awry with the current skipper who looks likely to be Port’s leader for the foreseeable future.

Captain: Toby Nankervis

The courageous ruckman skippered the Tigers on his own for the first time in 2024 which was his third season with the C next to his name, having previously shared the role with Dylan Grimes across 2022 and 2023.

With a whole bunch of promising kids through the door at Punt Road, it seems unlikely that a major change on the captaincy front will be made this off-season.

‘Nank’, who is now 30, still has a few years to offer at the elite level and should remain in the role for at least another season or two.

Beyond Nankervis there is Tom Lynch, but he’s already 32 and struggles to get on the park. Jayden Short was a co-vice captain in 2024 - the periphery leadership role seems his go.

It could be a situation where the club bides its time with various skippers to fill the void before one of the bevy of first-round picks is ready.

Captain: Jack Steele

Midfielder Jack Steele has been in the job for four years - the last three as standalone skipper.

It appears unlikely that Ross Lyon will be making a major adjustment this summer with stability the key.

There are a few candidates beneath Steele who would be considered if change happened to be afoot, including Callum Wilkie, Jack Sinclair and Rowan Marshall.

Vice-captain Wilkie seems the one from that trio who could do a decent job, but Steele will probably stay as captain for a couple more years.

Captain: Callum Mills

Callum Mills has some redeeming to do.

He was co-captain alongside Dane Rampe and the now-departed Luke Parker in 2022 and 2023, before being made the club’s solo skipper prior to the 2024 campaign.

Mills then injured his shoulder in the much-publicised Mad Monday debacle which threw his 2024 season completely off course.

The Swans were then demolished in the Grand Final without Mills on the field, and more recently long-time coach John Longmire stepped aside.

Now with Dean Cox at the helm, Mills must step right up and lead the club back to the promised land. It should be his job for some time if he can do it well enough.

Captain: Oscar Allen and Liam Duggan

The West Coast captaincy piece is a peculiar proposition.

There must be some doubt over Oscar Allen’s long-term viability as captain given his recent injury woes.

But provided Allen is ok and can gain some continuity, he seems the right man at the age of 25 to lead a rebuilding group.

His co-captain Liam Duggan is a dedicated clubman who leads by example and should stay in the joint role for at least 2025.

Last season’s vice-captain Tom Barrass has left the club so on paper there is a bit of a gap underneath the pair of current captains.

New coach Andrew McQualter will no doubt have his own ideas, however.

Captain: Marcus Bontempelli

Five-year skipper Marcus Bontempelli is odds-on to retain his the job well into the future.

You’d think ‘The Bont’, at the ripe old age of 29, will lead the Dogs for a few more years at the very least, especially given his individual form has only strengthened during his tenure.

Of the 2024 leadership group, you could potentially see vice-captain Tom Liberatore as the club’s captain but he’s 32 and won’t be stepping in anytime soon.

For the future, Ed Richards is building a captaincy portfolio, as is Aaron Naughton who was deputy vice-captain in 2024.