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Outgoing Hawthorn captain Jarryd Roughead says there are plenty of worthy candidates to fill the role at the AFL club.
Isaac Smith and Liam Shiels might be the leading candidates but Jarryd Roughead says the race to replace him as Hawthorn captain is wide open.
The four-time premiership forward stood down last week after two years in the role to concentrate on his football as he enters what could be his final AFL season.
As vice-captains, Smith and Shiels are logical favourites, with Ben Stratton and Jack Gunston also at the front of the pack as members of the club's leadership group last season.
But the likes of Luke Breust, Tom Mitchell, James Sicily and Jaeger O'Meara will also come under consideration.
"You could throw a blanket over probably 10 (players) to be honest," Roughead told reporters on Monday.
"With the leadership group as well as the emerging leaders (group).
"... When you've got 10 or 12 leaders throughout the whole organisation, that one bloke out the front just means he gets to flip the coin on the weekends.
"We've got a lot of blokes who just say it how it is and pull blokes up when they need to."
The Hawks will assess their leadership candidates over the pre-season before an open player vote, most likely in late January or early February.
Roughead, who missed the 2016 season as he battled skin cancer, struggled to hit the scoreboard last season, managing just 34 goals in 22 games.
He denied he has a point to prove in 2019.
"I wouldn't have thought ... I think my record speaks for itself," he said.
"... It was highly spoken about last year, my form, and obviously you guys (in the media), that's what you're told to do and you take it onboard.
"Hopefully with the release of all the little things that go with (the captaincy), it might help me out going into this year and being a little bit more free."
Roughead, who has one more year to go on his current deal, isn't approaching next season like it's his last, with talks with the club about his future to progress as the campaign unfolds.
