Toby Greene should be Geelong’s next captain as soon as next year.
That’s what Channel 7’s Kane Cornes thinks ahead of the former GWS skipper’s first year at the Cattery.
Greene was one of just two foundation players left at the Giants before making the decision to join the Cats as an unrestricted free agent earlier this month.
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He departs as their greatest ever player, having captained the club for the past five seasons, been named All-Australian three times, won two best and fairests, and kicked 450 goals in 282 games.
The 33-year-old joins a mature group at the Cats that includes nine players who will be 30 or older by Round 1 next year, including skipper Patrick Dangerfield, who will be 37 in April.
Tom Stewart has deputised Dangerfield for his entire captaincy and had been favoured by some to succeed Joel Selwood when Dangerfield was appointed in 2023.
But Cornes thinks Greene, despite having yet to play a game for the club, would be a better option to take over from Dangerfield.
“Is he the most credentialed player on Geelong’s list to captain the team?” Cornes said of Greene on SEN.
“People will largely disagree with it. But if you deep-dive and deep-think about who the best person to captain the Cats is, it’s Toby Greene.
“Dangerfield doesn’t need to be captain of that club anymore. Connor O’Sullivan’s not ready. Bailey Smith and Max Holmes aren’t suited to captaincy.
“Toby Greene’s a better leader than Tom Stewart.
“If you lined up and asked, ‘Who is the best credentialed player to captain the Cats?’, it’s Toby Greene.
“Now, I’m not saying that’s going to happen, and I’m certainly not saying he’s going to walk in there and put his hand up and want to captain this great club — I’m not.”
Not since Chris Judd at Carlton in 2008 has a player joined a club and immediately been appointed as captain.
At the time, the Blues were a young team lacking leadership, and previous skipper Lance Whitnall was hanging up the boots.
Greene walks in to Geelong under very different circumstances as to those Judd faced at Carlton, but Cornes still can’t see who else would succeed Dangerfield.
“I don’t know who (they would change) to. This is the whole point I’m raising,” Cornes said.
“There isn’t an obvious replacement for Dangerfield. So they probably go again with him.
“But I think Tom’s got his own issues, certainly from a body and form point of view. I don’t think he wants to be taking on that responsibility of captaincy. O’Sullivan is the obvious one, but it’s two years too early, maybe three years too early for him.
“Then there’s no obvious choice. So I don’t know.”
