The Brisbane Broncos captaincy is one of the most prestigious roles in Australian sport, and current lock forward Pat Carrigan has received a ringing endorsement to be next in line.
From Wally Lewis and Allan Langer to Adam Reynolds, the Broncos have been famous for fielding great and highly influential players as skipper.
Reynolds, who tasted title glory last year, will retire at the end of this season as one of just four Broncos captains to win the NRL premiership, with Langer (1992-93 and 1997-98), Kevin Walters (2000) and Darren Lockyer (2006) the others.
Test and Queensland forward Carrigan captained the side in Reynolds' absence last year and impressed with his strong leadership via actions.
The 28-year-old was earlier given the co-captaincy with Brodie Croft in the dark wooden-spoon days of 2020, when regular skipper Alex Glenn missed most of the season.
Carrigan showed great character and learned a lot during that period.
"He's done a lot of great things for this club and he's stood in a number of times," Reynolds said.
"Obviously when I'm not there he's the next man up, and he's a big part of the fabric of this club.
"He's been here for a very long time and I see him as an extremely important leader amongst our team as well, so it's a good headache to manage that.
"We've got a number of leaders in the club that could lead the team out, but he'd be my pick."
Carrigan, with 130 games for the Broncos to his credit, and centre Kotoni Staggs would be the two prime candidates for the job.
Carrigan is signed until 2028 and has the pedigree to take charge.
"I don't really think about it," he said.
"I've always been a big believer in just being myself and trying to uphold that each and every day and perform at a standard I'm proud of and the club can be proud of too.
"I've learned a lot from 'Reyno'. I'm glad he's got the reins for another 12 months, and if those things were to eventuate then they'll eventuate.
"I'm really lucky at this club. There's plenty of boys that are more than capable of leading us into the future, and I think we're in a good position."
If he does get the chance to lead the Broncos, Carrigan knows it will be one of his greatest achievements.
"It'll be massive," he said.
"Each and every day you're learning and you're growing as a person, not only as a footy player.
"I've taken plenty of lessons, ups and downs, over the last eight or nine years that I've been in the club.
"They're all hypotheticals and what-ifs and I don't really read too much into those sort of things.
"I'm loving what I'm doing at the moment and playing with this group of lads."
Canberra Times
