Jed Adcock will become the sole Lions captain in 2014.
Jed Adcock will be the sole Brisbane Lions captain in 2014, with Jonathan Brown stepping down.
Adcock, who was co-captain with Brown in 2013, will take up the role solo this season after being voted in by a group of senior players.
Midfielder, Tom Rockliff, was voted in as the club’s vice-captain, with Daniel Merrett, Joel Patfull and Daniel Rich named as deputies.
Adcock said he had learnt a lot from his first year as captain and wouldn’t be changing too much in 2014.
“It doesn’t really feel different to last year,” he said.
“If you’re captain the club, you’re captain of the club, whether you’ve got someone else there or not.
“Browny missed a few games last year so it probably made me step up a little bit more in the games that he missed and he probably stood down a little bit last year and allowed me to take that front role a little bit more.”
Lions coach, Justin Leppitsch, said Adcock had proven himself in 2013 and would have no trouble taking on the captaincy alone.
“[Jed’s] developed not only as a very good on-field leader, which he’s always had, but a solid off-field contributor,” he said.
Leppitsch said Brown would still be a strong mentor around the club, despite not having the © next to his name.
“Browny’s role will be to mentor our leaders this season,” he said.
“He was really keen to step away and become more of a mentor and we were keen for the same thing.
Rockliff, who has been touted as a potential successor to the captaincy, said he was excited about the new leadership structure, which includes two mentors in Brown and Brent Moloney, and an extended leadership group of Pearce Hanley, Matthew Leuenberger, Dayne Zorko, Jack Redden and Mitch Golby.
“It’s a great honour for me to be named vice-captain of the footy club that I love,” Rockliff said.
“I think it’s a really exciting time for the footy club. We’ve got a new generation coming through.”
“We’ve had a really good pre-season and we’re really looking forward to getting in and playing footy.”
