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New West Coast captain Shannon Hurn knows exactly what type of leader he wants to be – a premiership-winning one.
Hurn was unveiled as the Eagles’ 10th captain on Monday, with the 27-year-old beating out Scott Selwood, Josh Kennedy, Matt Priddis and Eric Mackenzie for the coveted job.
The 152-game veteran has established himself as one of the team’s most important players, and said his captaincy ambitions grew last season when he filled in several times for the retired Darren Glass.
West Coast narrowly missed the finals last year, but Hurn hopes he can lead the club to their fourth premiership in the near future.
“We still want to be successful and I think we will be,” Hurn said on Monday.
“I think we’ve got a lot of good talent … but it’s about what you do with it and how you train and how you work together game day.
“I think that’s our biggest development point.
“Hopefully (the type of captain I’ll become is) a premiership one. That would be nice.”
Hurn is happy to keep his nickname ‘Bunga’, but he jumped at the chance to make teammate Mark LeCras sweat a bit.
“Lecca is here today so I said, ‘Mate, I know you’ve got a boat but there might be two skippers on the boat now’,” Hurn joked.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson said Hurn’s endorsement for the captaincy was overwhelming.
“We have a player vote at the end of the season and combine that with the board and the executives, and it was a clear winner in the end,” Simpson said.
“With JK and Scooter as vice-captains, there is terrific support around Shannon, but everyone on the list has a leadership role to play in one form or another.”
Hurn said he was honoured to take up a role that had been previously filled by club greats John Worsfold, Ross Glendinning, Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and Glass.
But he conceded the thought of captaining West Coast never crossed his mind while growing up in South Australia.
“As a young fella I really just enjoyed playing football and playing cricket. I just always wanted to get the best out of myself early on,” Hurn said.
“Then it’s about realising – well if you want to be a successful team, you have to be able to help others.
“It’s a whole group thing; there’s no individual doing their own thing.
“It’s about helping everyone.
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