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?