Jackson follows idol Ryan to Dogs captaincy

An emotional Josh Jackson has vowed to channel the leadership of Canterbury’s last premiership-winning NRL skipper Andrew Ryan in his own time at the helm at Belmore.

Jackson was unveiled by new coach Dean Pay as the Bulldogs’ next captain at a family club dinner on Wednesday night on the NSW central coast.

Jackson was almost brought to tears as he was inducted into the Canterbury captains’ club, alongside Steve Mortimer, Terry Lamb and George Peponis.

But it’s the legacy of fellow back-rower Andrew Ryan, who was Canterbury captain when Jackson rose through the junior ranks at the club, that the 27-year-old was most proud to follow.

“Andrew Ryan was one of my idols growing up – he was a great captain of the club.

“Some of the people who have captained previously … to be named alongside guys like that, it’s extremely emotional and a great privilege.”

Ryan was the on-field captain for Canterbury when they last won the premiership in 2004, after departing skipper Steve Price was injured the week prior.

He went on to lead the Bulldogs for seven seasons, taking the club to two preliminary finals.

Jackson shares remarkably similar traits to his idol as a hard-working back-rower who others are compelled to follow – and it’s the same style he wants to bring to his captaincy.

“I want to be someone who leads by example. That’s the way I’ve tried to play footy throughout my whole career.

“I’m not going to change the way I play and who I am just because I’ve got it next to my name.

“My role won’t change too much because we’ve such a wealth of experience and leaders in the team.”

He’ll need those leaderships traits and more to guide the Bulldogs back into the finals after they missed the eight last year for the first time since 2011.

It resulted in coach Des Hasler being sacked, while captain James Graham was also released.

The club also face a difficult month off the field ahead of highly publicised and hotly contested board elections.

But Pay has seen enough in his three months alongside the 133-game NRL player to be certain he is ready to take on the captaincy at the club, having debuted at in 2012.

“When I was looking from the outside in, I really admired this guy for the way he went about his business,” Pay said.

“He’s a hard-working kid, he’s humble, he puts his teammates first and I’ve got to know him really well over the past two or three months and nothing has changed my opinion of him.

“He is a true leader. He doesn’t say all that much but he shows it in his actions.”