The Gold Coast SUNS on Monday announced the appointments of David Swallow and Jarrod Witts as co-captains of the football club for the 2019 season.
The pair will be supported by Touk Miller and Pearce Hanley who were revealed as the club’s two vice-captains.
Both Swallow and Witts recently signed contract extensions tying them to the club long-term and were extremely humbled to be bestowed the honour of the captaincy.
“I think it’s an exciting time for the footy club,” Swallow told SUNS Media.
“We’ve had a really strong summer and it’s obviously very humbling.
“I’m just looking forward to continuing the growth that we’ve had over the summer and getting to work.”
Swallow, who has been with the SUNS since its debut AFL season in 2011, said the prospect of holding the captaincy had weighed on his mind over the last couple of months.
“I was thinking about it a little bit throughout the pre-season,” he said.
“I was happy with the way there’s obviously Touk coming through and he’s definitely a future captain in my eyes.
“Obviously Pearce is a really strong leader around the footy club (as well) so there’s other guys that are putting their hands up and just as I said it’s super humbling and to share it with Wittsy is pretty special.”
Unlike Swallow, Witts has only been with the club for three years.
But his impact off the field has been immense, and while his appointment may seem like a surprise on the outside, it certainly wasn’t inside the club’s four walls.
“If I look back from coming up here two years ago just trying to get a game to where I am today, yeah probably if you’re looking from the outside it would look that way,” Witts told SUNS Media.
“But I think I’ve just been able to build on each year and take it one step at a time.
“It’s a super honour and not something that I take lightly so I’m just really excited to continue with Dave to grow all the work we’ve been doing over the pre-season.”
While both are relatively soft-spoken, both Swallow and Witts label themselves as action-based leaders.
The addition of Miller and Hanley to the group of office-bearers will give the leadership group plenty of versatility according to Witts.
“I think all four of us lead in a slightly different way so to have that coverage and be able to bounce off each other again is going to be huge,” Witts said.
“We’ve all got our strengths that we can continue to push onto the group and drive the group but also take a little bit from each other in areas that we can improve as well.”
Those four will be alongside some new and returning faces in the leadership group this year.
Jarrod Harbrow will rejoin the group, while Alex Sexton, Brayden Fiorini and George Horlin-Smith will all serve their first year.
“I think if you look at Brayden Fiorini and Alex Sexton – the amount of work that they’ve put in this year on their leadership as well as also performing on the track throughout pre-season has been super impressive and is something that is to be admired,” Witts said of his teammates.
“And then George obviously has come in and had a real impact on our group.
“Lastly Harbs; to put his hand up to come back in again is just a true testament I think to where we’re going as a club… he’s going to be vitally important for us I think moving forward.
“He’s a super leader and he holds a lot of respect amongst our playing group so it’s awesome.”
The leadership group will have their first opportunity to take the field as a unit this Sunday when the SUNS play the Western Bulldogs in Mackay for JLT1.
