With respect Seniors book is over 5yrs old players can improve in all departments with experience.

I don't wanna start $hit here but this is the problem with mental health and sociaty.

If you brake a leg or do a knee knobody says you can't be captain. But admit you have had mental illness and now your damaged goods and not fit for more responsibility.

It's the old once you go off sick with stress you can't get a promotion.

This is the problem.

I think Wards honesty and his maturity makes him the best man for the job.

To be fair I didn't read Andy's comments that way. There's no reason at all Ward can't be captain, and I'm sure he'd be a very good one, but it's a lot to ask of anyone coming back from a year out to both find their game again and lead the club.

I know Mags hasn't been out for a year (more like six months) but the comments made seem just as applicable to our current captain who I'm a massive fan of but has been utter $hite this year.

Regarding the comments that is why I said I don't want to start $hit. But intended or not it's the assumption he's damaged goods. Mental illness is no different from a long term knee injury like Mcguires.

To judge them different is the absolute issue with mental health and is what initiatives like state of mind is all about.

As someone who has experienced depression, I'm not saying he's damaged goods at all.

I'm saying that when you're in a depressive episode, the last thing you want is to have to engage with other people let alone be responsible for leading and inspiring them. Stress can also be a contributing factor to bringing on depressive episodes, and making Ward captain would both increase his workload and his stress levels by placing more media work and responsibility on his shoulders.

I'm just not convinced that's healthy for him as an individual right at this moment in time, irrespective of whether or not it's right for the club. The health - physical and mental - of the players need to be the prime consideration.

Yeah I don't think Hall is captain material. He (and Ablett) now are probably similar to Senior around the late '00's......one of the leaders of the team but not THE leader.

We need a group of leaders. The aforementioned time period, whilst Sinfield was captain and had Peacock, you also had Senior, JJB, Diskin, McGuire who all formed a part of a wider group of leaders in the team.

Agreed and I honestly wasnt having a go as I've had a battle or 2 over the years. If any player is going through that they shouldn't be expected to play. I'm just of the opinion that mental illness can be a one off or reoccuring like any other injury. It's something sociaty needs to get much smarter with especially in regard to our athletes who we assume are superhuman especially in RL.

Stevie ward should be the captain.

I think Maggsy will be captain next yr. Ward is a possible captain the year after but the lad needs time. An injury like hes had can take months to recover from even when back playing. We seem to be just seeing Sutty coming back fully from a similar injury although my understanding is Wards was much more complicated.

I think everyone knows just because Ward had depression doesn't mean he can't be a captain but it might be a extra pressure for him that he might not want or need, but personally I think Stevie would be a great captain he seems to have the right attributes and has proven he is a hard working person to get through what he's got through. Another candidate for me would be Hall because he is a very senior player and could do the job for a few more years, but Stevie Ward would definitely be the captain for years to come if he stayed all his career.

For all we know maybe McGuire had depression during his injury lay off this year or back during his serious knee injury of 2010/2011. Maybe Ryan Hall did also during his layoff this season. Maybe their's a captain of a current SL club who has suffered in the past or currently.

The only thing we know is that Ward had the strength to talk about it openly. That could be a great sign of being a leader that he was able to have the bottle to do that.

All things being equal I would expect mags to be captain again next year.

That said there are some things that could happen to change that such as:
Mags realising it might not be for him.
McD leaving.
A stellar signing who is captain material.

I don't see any of those on the table now though.

It's utterly ridiculous saying Ward shouldn't be captain because he suffered from depression. Managers in all types of roles suffer with depression and have to lead a team every day. People talk about the media commitments he'll have. Ward is very comfortable in this area. He's also openly spoken about his battle, and he's got his online magazine up and running. He's very mature for his age, and was always a smart kid at school. If Mags hangs his boots up, the job is Stevie's.

Ward should be captain when he's properly fit and physically rehabilitated.

Harris and Sinfield both showed that if you've leadership potential you can be made captain ahead of players of greater seniority, no matter how young.

McGuire hasn't been captain much in his career, and more than ever the club need to think about the future. The only scenario I would keep McGuire at captain is if the club want to ease Stevie Ward back into first team rugby without extra pressure. Otherwise I think McGuire might play better without this extra burden of being captain.

Bringing someone in to captain the club from outside the current group would be a risk unless the newcomer is not already greatly respected and given time to settle in to the club environment.

Id give Ward more time. What's the harm in waiting another 2 or 3 years and then making him captain.

you also like McDermott , was no way mags should have been made captain . if you are good enough you are old enough.

Maybe he's not good enough for captain yet. Again, what's the harm in waiting another couple of years and ensuring he's ready for it. 2-3 years of being part of the leadership group and then taking over as captain would seem more sensible to me than putting him in quite early in my opinion. IIRC it's even earlier than Sinfield was made captain.

I have no objection to Ward being made captain other than that he has never played a full season without a serious injury. Is he injury prone? he will have to play a full season, give or take, before you could even begin to consider him for this crucial leadership role. As for his depression there seems to be many experts on here who know all about his state of mind. I would just like to point out that depression is not like any other sporting injury. If you have a sprained ankle then the treatment plan is clear, if you have a dislocated elbow then rehabilitation takes the same path for every player, some taking longer than others. Depression is very different, the term depression is an all encompassing phrase and there are many different ways of treating it. What works for one will not necessarily work for another. Give the lad the time he needs to deal with it in a manner that befits his own personal problem

Ablett captain, JJB vice captain.

Ablett has been fit most of the year, but what has he done when we are under pressure?
We might as well stick with Mags if we are going to give it to another player who has under performed

Ablett's only played 10 games and 6 of those after his first comeback from his ankle injury it was obvious he wasn't really fit to return.

However I wouldn't give the captaincy to Ablett and it's for the same reasons people weren't sure about McGuire getting it.....too hot tempered, too niggly and gets into too many running moans with the refs, probably more guilty of it than McGuire in fact.

Hmmm...hardly a long term solution, but a positive move in the fight against age discrimination

Stevie Ward will possibly only play half a dozen games this season, so the last thing he needs is to be lumbered with the burden of being captain for 2017 IMO

Surely his main priority for the 2017 season is to get a good pre season under his belt and just concentrate on his footy
If i'm not mistaken he will have only had one full pre seasons training with the first team squad since he left Woodkirk Academy due to injuries

Because this club needs to form a new strategy and growth of a team together. If it doesn't it will be swapping and changing for years, and getting no where. That growth together starts with a long term view on captaincy. It may be Ward isn't the answer, I don't now, it might be the new captain is still to come in. But one thing for certain is that noboday this season has shown themselves worthy of such a role going forward, and McGuire was the biggest mistake the moment it was announced. Why persevere with something that clearly does not work?

A fair point - not sure what the options are outside of Ward?