Co-captain

[Dickie E]

It is being increasingly common in Australian Rules football for a team to have co-captains, leaderships groups, etc. Doesn't really matter in that game as the captain only has a role at the coin toss.

I'm starting to see it flow into rugby with teams having co-captains. Its a bit frustrating as I'd prefer to have one point of contact. Eg if I give a general warning do I need to make sure both captains are aware?

Does the law specify how many captains a team can have at any 1 time?

 

[Volun-selected]

Does the law specify how many captains a team can have at any 1 time?

Yep. The definition has ”player” singular. So for me “Hi, we’re co-captains“ is followed by “Great. So which one of you am I talking to?”

 

[Rich_NL]

It can be handy to have a contact point in the scrum if the captain is in the backline. But team management away from that goes via the captain.

 

[SimonSmith]

It isn't unheard of - yes, Navy Women, you - to have two captains:

One is the tactical play calling genius.
The other is the one sent to charm the referee and keep him onside.

 

[crossref]

It isn't unheard of - yes, Navy Women, you - to have two captains:

One is the tactical play calling genius.
The other is the one sent to charm the referee and keep him onside.

I like the sound of that !

 

[Marc Wakeham]

I had co-captains last Tuesday. the 8 and the 7. When I needed to I just asked for the captain and the 8 came forward.

 

[SimonSmith]

I like the sound of that !

I'm too grumpy for that to work too well on me.

But I did watch them wrap a newish referee right round their fingers. I warned him what was about to happen, and he still fell for it. Took the chocolate they offered him, and he came off the pitch bemused as to why he hadn't issued the card the game had clearly demanded. Turns out the 'captain' had literally batted her eyelashes at him and promised it wouldn't happen again - and he fell for it.

 

[Volun-selected]

To be fair, when this happens with a young or developmental team I’m happy to swap captains at half time - they need the experience but need to understand that as a captain the buck stops with you. They need the practice to be confident when it comes to making calls or talking with the grumpy old fart with the whistle.

 

[Jarrod Burton]

I've had the opposite experience with co-captains here. A team with a higher number of PI's picked a player for match day captain who, despite being a great player, rarely took responsibility for his players and didn't communicate warnings or chat back through to the players. I could see it happening and it was resulting in the players getting pissed off with me because they were getting marched or carded for repeated infringing despite my warning chat with the captain. He also wouldn't communicate with the pack what I was seeing at scrum time - despite being a prop. I ended up talking to the co-captain who is a previous captain and long time player who spoke with the coach and immediately took the reigns as match day captain. The behaviour of the team improved straight away as they were receiving the information that I needed to get to them.

 

[Dickie E]

I had co-captains last Tuesday. the 8 and the 7. When I needed to I just asked for the captain and the 8 came forward.

so in what way were they co-captains? Sounds like a captain and a vice-captain.

I stand by my view. If I am going to give a general warning I'm only going to be giving it to 1 player. If I give a scrum/lineout option, I only want 1 reply. If I ask players to go through their captain, I don't want a committee involved

 

[Marc Wakeham]

so in what way were they co-captains? Sounds like a captain and a vice-captain.

I stand by my view. If I am going to give a general warning I'm only going to be giving it to 1 player. If I give a scrum/lineout option, I only want 1 reply. If I ask players to go through their captain, I don't want a committee involved

I don't know. I'm guessing it ewas some kind of "sop" to the second player to make them feel valued. I condicted the game as you suggest in the quoted post.

 

[Decorily]

so in what way were they co-captains? Sounds like a captain and a vice-captain.

I stand by my view. If I am going to give a general warning I'm only going to be giving it to 1 player. If I give a scrum/lineout option, I only want 1 reply. If I ask players to go through their captain, I don't want a committee involved

There's a lot of 'I' in this!

 

[Dickie E]

There's a lot of 'I' in this!

its my pronoun of choice.

Hypothetical: pair of co-captains come to pre-match toss, one calls heads and the other calls tails. Watchagonnado?

 

[Dickie E]

I've had the opposite experience with co-captains here. A team with a higher number of PI's picked a player for match day captain who, despite being a great player, rarely took responsibility for his players and didn't communicate warnings or chat back through to the players. I could see it happening and it was resulting in the players getting pissed off with me because they were getting marched or carded for repeated infringing despite my warning chat with the captain. He also wouldn't communicate with the pack what I was seeing at scrum time - despite being a prop. I ended up talking to the co-captain who is a previous captain and long time player who spoke with the coach and immediately took the reigns as match day captain. The behaviour of the team improved straight away as they were receiving the information that I needed to get to them.

that's somewhat of a different situation. To use your vernacular, what would be your view if the team appointed 2 "match day captains"?

 

[Balones]

I have had the situation where I was told that the captain would look after player discipline but “our number 8 would be make technical decisions”. Worked okay for me.

 

[Harry]

I have had the situation where I was told that the captain would look after player discipline but “our number 8 would be make technical decisions”. Worked okay for me.

That's the way our club organised things if the captain was the full back or wing. We used "captain" and "pack leader". The pack leader made quick decisions, tap and go posts or kick for touch. But all else went through the captain. It never caused a problem and was efficient.

 

[Zebra1922]

I don‘t see an issue with it. When I call captain, I deal with whoever comes up to me. Doesn’t matter to me if that person changes through the game, or goes back and forward from one player to another.

 

[Phil E]

I've had the situation where the coach was a player/coach.
He said to me before the game, this is the captain, I am the coach, but you wont hear from me during the game.

Of course he then proceeded to act like a captain, asking for explanations and making decisions, while the actual captain said nothing.
After a few minutes I called them both over and reminded him of our per-match conversation, having confirmed the captain was still the captain, I then told him I didn't want to hear from him again and to pass any questions through the captain.

He was in the bin about 15 minute later.

 

[SimonSmith]

I've had the situation where the coach was a player/coach.
He said to me before the game, this is the captain, I am the coach, but you wont hear from me during the game.

Of course he then proceeded to act like a captain, asking for explanations and making decisions, while the actual captain said nothing.
After a few minutes I called them both over and reminded him of our per-match conversation, having confirmed the captain was still the captain, I then told him I didn't want to hear from him again and to pass any questions through the captain.

He was in the bin about 15 minute later.

Sometimes you just know the punchline before it's delivered!

 

[Jarrod Burton]

that's somewhat of a different situation. To use your vernacular, what would be your view if the team appointed 2 "match day captains"?

Both players were introduced as captains to me during the PMB. I asked who was the captain today and they pointed at both. The number 4 (the second captain in my tale) said "not me!" so the number 8 was the guy I treated as captain. Turns out the players picked the captain against the coaches wishes but they didn't feel comfortable enough to override them. Turns out that player isn't the captain anymore and its back to the more experienced number 4.