Joel Selwood was once again named club captain at Thursday’s official season launch at GMHBA Stadium, his tenth year in charge, after taking over from Cameron Ling for the 2012 season.

Already Geelong’s longest ever serving captain, it’ll be the 32-year-old’s tenth year as skipper and puts him in striking distance of Carlton great Stephen Kernahan ‘s AFL/VFL record of 226 games as captain.

Speaking to SEN Breakfast on Thursday as part of Geelong’s annual Membership Day, Chris Scott said there is still an open discussion around who might succeed Selwood when the time comes.

“Internally, our list management group have spoken about it a bit without really coming up with any answers,” he said this week.

“The obvious reason that we haven’t come up with an answer is that he (Selwood) has been there for so long and has been so good.

“It’s hard to get your head around what it’s going to be like post-Joel, but the other thing is I think over time that person tends to identify themselves.”

The Cats named an unchanged leadership group for the 2021 season with Patrick Dangerfield and Mark Blicavs sharing the vice-captaincy, with Mitch Duncan, Mark O’Connor Tom Stewart and Zach Tuohy again rounding out the group.

Scott said that any of those players could potentially emerge as the club’s next leading man. 

“I think Patrick (Dangerfield) would be a great leader of our footy club, Mark Blicavs would be in that category as well,” he said.

“The next rung down – in age – I think it’s going to take them a year or two to clearly identify themselves.

“We’ve got some young guys in our leadership group – Tom Stewart and Mark O’Connor – who do a particularly good job in my opinion.”

Geelong will open the 2021 season against the Crows in Adelaide on Saturday, March 20.