PORT ADELAIDE has committed to giving young players Troy Chaplin and Steve Salopek greater leadership roles in the second half of the season.
On Wednesday, Chaplin praised 29-year-old Dean Brogan’s inspirational qualities, but on Friday assistant coach Matthew Primus said it was Chaplin, and the in-form Salopek, who had earned more responsibility.
“We’ll add in young guys every couple of weeks, so Troy Chaplin and Steve Salopek will come in and Daniel Motlop has already stepped up in that regard,” Primus said.
“You actually want your leaders playing their best footy and they haven’t been able to do that every game this year, but we’ve actually seen some stuff off-field that we’ve been able to change around and we’ve seen some improvement from those young guys I’ve mentioned.
“Chaplin, Salopek and Motlop haven’t been added into the leadership group; they don’t sit in on every meeting, but we bring them in and they come in as they want and add into what the young group are doing.”
Port Adelaide’s official leadership group consists of skipper Warren Tredrea, vice-captains Brendon Lade, Chad Cornes and Shaun Burgoyne and also Kane Cornes and Dom Cassisi.
Primus said, despite an average season on field, the club was happy with the way the group and the club’s honesty policy was progressing.
“Whilst there are times when you’re losing that you think they’re not quite doing the job, we’ve been happy with what they’ve [the leadership group] been able to do off-field,” he said.
“Last year, when things were going well, you don’t get challenged, but when things aren’t going great you get challenged. They’ve stood up to a fair extent and we’re hoping that their performance on field will stand up a bit more in the second half of the year.
“The skill in being honest is the way you give it. If you just yell at a player, point down or stand over them, they’re not going to react to well to it, but if you give good feedback and bad feedback, then the guys accept it pretty well.
“The program we had in place last year and this year has come a long way. We’ve still got a way to go, but we’ve been pretty happy with it and the players are slowly learning. It’s the hardest thing to do; give feedback to your peers.”
