The Blues have announced their leadership group for the 2018 season, with Marc Murphy captaining the club for the sixth straight year.
Murphy has led the Blues since 2013, and will be flanked by injured defender Sam Docherty and Patrick Cripps the club's two vice-captains.
Kade Simpson, who was a vice-captain under Murphy for the past three seasons, has given up his post, although he's still be a member of the leadership group.
Simpson will sit alongside Ed Curnow, Matthew Kreuzer, Alex Silvagni and Lachie Plowman, in Carlton's eight-man leadership group.
โMarc has been superb for us and it is a credit to him that he will continue in the role for a sixth season. He lives to the Club values and behaviours, and not only is he coming off the back of arguably a career-best season, he is totally invested in our players and what weโre trying to achieve as a group,โ Bolton told carltonfc.com.au.
โHe will continue to work closely with Sam and Patrick in their vice-captaincy roles and while itโs clear to our supporters just how talented they both are as players, both Sam and Patrick are natural and impressive young leaders who are undoubtedly ready for this next step in their careers.
โPleasingly, Kade will continue in his role in the leadership group and his experience is paramount for our list. โKreuzโ often is referred to as a โheart and soulโ player for the football club and will be a very valuable member of the extended leadership group, alongside Alex Silvagni who is uncompromising in his pursuit of driving high standards.
โLachie Plowman comes into the group for the first time which is a reflection of the positive impact he has amongst the group. Lachie has a real on-field presence across the back-line so he will be a welcomed addition to the group this year.
โWeโve obviously had a significant number of changes to our playing list over the past three years, so for us, weโve been clear that we will continue to build synergy amongst our playing group and our leadership group will be instrumental in driving that this season.โ
Carlton's 2018 leadership group:
Marc Murphy โ Captain
Sam Docherty โ Vice-Captain
Patrick Cripps โ Vice-Captain
Kade Simpson
Ed Curnow
Matthew Kreuzer
Alex Silvagni
Lachie Plowman
