POWELL TO CAPTAIN EAGLES

SANFL News

03 Mar 2014

POWELL TO CAPTAIN EAGLES

By ZAC MILBANK | Twitter @zacmilbank

Luke Powell will captain Woodville-West Torrens for a third consecutive season after deciding to continue his illustrious career in 2014.

Powell, who was weighing up whether to retire after last season, will head a six-man leadership group which will include Luke Jarrad as vice-captain.

‘’There was some thought that last year would be Luke’s last with his body (ageing) and the fact he has a little son called Mason,’’ Eagles football manager Trent Hentschel said.

‘’So we’re rapt to have him go around for another year and it was really a no-brainer that he would also captain the team again.’’

Joining Powell and Jarrad in the leadership group is clever forward Matt Goldsworthy, running defender Phil Raymond, midfielder Chris Hall and reliable defender Patrick Giuffreda.

‘’That’s something we’ve identified over the past couple of years that there is a gap (between leaders) at the moment,’’ Hentschel said.

‘’Hopefully we’ve worked on that enough to the point that when Powelly and Flash (Jarrad) retire we will have some blokes ready to step up as leaders.’’

Powell’s appointment leaves just three clubs – Sturt, Glenelg and Central District – to confirm their leadership groups for this year.

The Double Blues, who were led by Michael Coad in 2013, are expected to announce their captain by the end of the week after conducting a training camp in Mount Barker on the weekend.

The Tigers and Bulldogs are likely to confirm their skippers within a fortnight.

Norwood has confirmed Kieran McGuinness will continue as captain while West Adelaide midfielder Chris Schmidt has replaced Ryan Ferguson at the helm of the Bloods.

North Adelaide (Greg Gallman and Todd Miles) and South Adelaide (Josh Thewlis and Nick Murphy) have named co-captains for season 2014.

Adelaide will be captained by Central District premiership star Ian Callinan and Port Adelaide will be led by loyal Magpie Steven Summerton.