Quote: saints35 bulls0 "id be interested to know what you think makes 'captain material'?'"
Well, for me there are essentially two types of captains. The first is the organiser – typically a half back or a loose forward – who is the tactical leader on the field and bosses the team around. You still need the organiser whether they are captain or not, however it solves a problem if they can be both – i.e. Lockyer and Thurston
The other type of leader is the ‘from the front’ leader, by actions rather than words – this is certainly the type of leader we have had in Peacock for the last couple of years (in spite of the fact that he is not a club captain)
You are asking of course because I said Graham wasn’t captain material. Well, he would fall into the second category and I agree, by action, he is inspirational – his performances leading the Saints pack forward for the last few years have been immense and he is by far the best prop in the country
But... his personality is such that he looks to allocate blame when the going gets tough (probably because people don’t match his own standards), either the ref or to a lesser extent his team mates. We know that when England play Australia and New Zealand, they will have tough matches and I simply cannot see Graham rallying the team under difficult circumstances
And one more thing. I feel the years of hurt the same as any English rugby league fan and the day we beat the Aussies in a final/series will be one of the happiest of my life. But... it is only a sport at the end of day and I would hope the captain of my country would shake hands with the opposition and say well done rather than storm off in a sulk
This is my opinion of course and Graham still has the time to mature into a captain but I don’t think he is anywhere near yet
