By JARROD POTTER
NARRE Warren midfielder Nathan Foote has joined an illustrious group of men selected to lead the Dandenong Stingrays as their captain.
Foote, 17, from Narre Warren, was voted captain by the playing group last week and will captain by himself this year, a departure from the tradition of the past five years to select co-captains at the Stingrays.
Impressing as a bottom-age player in 2012, Foote played 18 TAC Cup matches with a best on ground performance against the Murray Bushrangers in round one and playing both finals against Gippsland and Oakleigh part of an impressive resume so far.
Foote felt proud to take on the captaincy mantle and hopes he can lead the Stingrays group to greater success this season than ever before.
“I was very honoured and privileged and it’s very exciting and hopefully the boys can have a good year on the track,” Foote said.
“Just want to have a good year with the team – hopefully we can get a bit of success on the field.
“Stingrays have always been a pretty successful team but haven’t been able to get that last step, so to get as close as we can, would be great.”
The captain sees hard work on and off the field as priorities for success in the competition and hopes to emulate the toughness brought to the group last season by co-captains Jason Pongracic and Nick Tuddenham.
“Very diligent in my approach, very good with my preparation and hard working on the field,” Foote said.
“Had a little bit of a talk with Pongo (Pongracic) but not too much – I think I learned a lot off those guys from last year.
“Their voice and how they went about it on and on the field, their actions were great with leading the whole group in general.”
Dandenong Stingrays region manager Mark Wheeler said Foote will be a strong leader who will flourish in the role as the season progresses.
“He’s very good on the field and very well regarded within the leadership group and the team. Wheeler said.
“He was voted right up there by the players… he’s quiet, but I think he’ll grow into the role a little bit more… he’s definitely someone we see that has all the traits we want as a Stingrays player and can bring those out within his team mates.”
Also named alongside Foote in the 2013 leadership group are vice captains Billy Hartung, Trae Tohiariki and Josh Pickess and deputy vice captains Jordan Bastinac, Josh Newman, James Harmes, Angus Scott and Jack Soroczynski.
