Former Robe junior Jordan Dawson will captain the Adelaide Crows in 2023 after Rory Sloane relinquished the leadership.<\/p>\n
Dawson, 25, will become the club\u2019s ninth AFL skipper, while Sloane takes a back seat after four years leading the Crows and will not feature in the club\u2019s leadership group in 2023.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 leadership group midway through last year and finished runner-up in the club\u2019s best and fairest.<\/p>\n
The former Swan said he was honoured to be given the leadership after being formally endorsed by the board last week. \u201cI could not be more excited to captain the club I barracked for growing up as a kid,\u201d Dawson said in a club statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was surreal to pull on the guernsey last year, and now this is a huge honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone at this club wants to win and have success and do it as quickly as we can, so I\u2019m honoured to have the responsibility of driving that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible privilege and even better having the likes of Rory Sloane and Taylor Walker \u2013 both highly respected captains of the club \u2013 and our leadership group here to help me on this journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Matthew Nicks said Jordan was ready because in key moments he steps up and delivers, particularly on-field. \u201cWe identified him as having leadership qualities when we recruited him from Sydney and they have shone through in the past 18 months with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dawson has played 86 AFL games and has featured consistently at the top level since 2019.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sloane \u2013 who is returning from a knee reconstruction and managed just four games last year \u2013 said he\u2019ll continue to be a leader around the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time is right because we have somebody who has stepped up and is ready to lead,\u201d Sloane said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Crows are yet to confirm the extent of their leadership group heading into 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019s ninth AFL skipper, while Sloane takes a back seat after four years leading the Crows and will not feature in the club\u2019s leadership group […]<\/p>\n