From kicking goals for the Rooster to captaining the Adelaide Crows for 2023

Jordan Dawson takes over from Rory Sloane

Former Robe junior Jordan Dawson will captain the Adelaide Crows in 2023 after Rory Sloane relinquished the leadership.

Dawson, 25, will become the club’s ninth AFL skipper, while Sloane takes a back seat after four years leading the Crows and will not feature in the club’s leadership group in 2023.

Dawson has only been at Adelaide for a little over 12 months after requesting a trade home to South Australia from Sydney at the end of 2021. He was added to the Crows’ leadership group midway through last year and finished runner-up in the club’s best and fairest.

The former Swan said he was honoured to be given the leadership after being formally endorsed by the board last week. “I could not be more excited to captain the club I barracked for growing up as a kid,” Dawson said in a club statement.

“It was surreal to pull on the guernsey last year, and now this is a huge honour.

“Everyone at this club wants to win and have success and do it as quickly as we can, so I’m honoured to have the responsibility of driving that.

“It’s an incredible privilege and even better having the likes of Rory Sloane and Taylor Walker – both highly respected captains of the club – and our leadership group here to help me on this journey.”

Coach Matthew Nicks said Jordan was ready because in key moments he steps up and delivers, particularly on-field. “We identified him as having leadership qualities when we recruited him from Sydney and they have shone through in the past 18 months with us.”

Dawson has played 86 AFL games and has featured consistently at the top level since 2019.

Meanwhile, Sloane – who is returning from a knee reconstruction and managed just four games last year – said he’ll continue to be a leader around the group.

“The time is right because we have somebody who has stepped up and is ready to lead,” Sloane said.

“We have been talking about this for five to six months, and I could 100 per cent keep going as captain, but there is someone else who is ready to take the club forward.

“It has been an honour to lead this club for the past four seasons, but once a captain always a captain, and there are blokes like Tex and myself and the rest of the leadership group there to help Daws going forward.”

The Crows are yet to confirm the extent of their leadership group heading into 2023.