Brisbane Lions settle on captaincy call after Lachie Neale’s departure from role

Brisbane have made the bold call to enlist three players to share the captaincy this season in the wake of Lachie Neale’s departure from the role following his off-field drama.

The Lions will deploy a trio of co-captains, with existing skipper Harris Andrews joined by Hugh McCluggage and Josh Dunkley at the helm.

Neale had shared the captaincy with Andrews for the past three seasons, leading the club to successive premierships, but last month made the call to step down amid his much-publicised marriage breakdown.

“It was quite unique to have three guys that are more than capable of being great captains at your one club at the one time,” Lions coach Chris Fagan said.

“If you have three good people, than why not have three captains?

“For us, leadership is a teamwork thing so to have three captains reinforces that philosophy and we work really hard to build leadership density at our footy club.

“These three are our best trademark players, they are fine young men, they are different personalities, so they bring different strengths to the table.”

It marks a return to more than two players sharing the captaincy at Brisbane for the first time since 2007, where a whopping five players were named co-captains.

Meanwhile, St Kilda have also opted for a dual-player captaincy model, with Callum Wilkie and Jack Sinclair to share the role.