Less than two years after Collingwood suspended Heath Shaw for the AFL finals, he is being hailed as their potential captain.

The Magpies have added the 24-year-old defender to their leadership group, with the August, 2008 off-field disaster now just a bad memory.

Then, Collingwood suspended Shaw and Alan Didak for the rest of the season because they lied about a drink-driving incident.

The pair then made an impressive transformation, with Shaw finishing third in the club’s best and fairest last season and Didak ranked fifth.

“There’s never been any doubt about Heath’s leadership on the field, it’s just some things off the field,” said current captain Nick Maxwell.

“He’s only 24 years old now, you take time to mature and mature into an AFL player on and off the field.

“We’ve seen a real transformation in him and there’s no reason to say why he won’t be a captain in future years at Collingwood.”

President Eddie McGuire also strongly praised Shaw and Didak on Monday for the way they had reacted to their club suspensions.

“One of the great things in life is if you muck up, you stand up and cop your whack and Heath did that, by losing his licence and (being) fined by the football club and also being put out of action for the finals campaign, he and Alan Didak,” McGuire said.

“That’s long behind them and (they have) turned into men as far as their professionalism is concerned and they’ve been nothing other than fantastic.

“If you punish someone for mucking up, so to do you reward them for what they need to do and what they’ve been able to do.”

The other notable addition to the team’s leaders is ruckman Darren Jolly, who has joined the Magpies from Sydney.

Maxwell said Jolly made an immediate impact when he joined the team for their off-season training camp late last year in Arizona.

“He came straight in and he didn’t stand back for things to happen, he really wanted to take control himself and he’s just amazing the way he’s come and done that,” Maxwell said.

The Magpies skipper said he had been particularly keen to talk to Jolly about Sydney’s highly-rated leadership group.

“He just sees things differently, coming from a different culture,” Maxwell said.

“On top of that, just the way he’s run the midfield and really helped in conjunction with Josh (Fraser) and Cameron Wood – not only developing Cameron and some of our younger guys, but also in terms of the setups around stoppages.

“I spoke to someone up at Sydney and they said he was almost running their meetings in terms of stoppages towards the end of last year.

“He had so much control, he knew the opposition back to front, he’s been great in that aspect.”

In-form defender Harry O’Brien is the other new addition to Collingwood’s leadership group.

Scott Pendlebury will be vice-captain and Dane Swan will be deputy vice-captain, while Shane O’Bree also remains among their official leaders.

Collingwood said veterans Josh Fraser and Tarkyn Lockyer had decided to give up their official leadership roles.

© AAP 2012

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