The Richmond Football Club will have joint skippers for the first time in its history, with Dylan Grimes and Toby Nankervis on Monday named co-captains for the 2022 season.
The pair replace Trent Cotchin after the triple-premiership skipper stood down after nine years in the role — the club’s longest-serving captain.
Grimes, Nick Vlastuin, Jack Graham and potentially even Dustin Martin were considered the frontrunners to replace Cotchin, with Nankervis a surprising selection. But of course, both Grimes and Nakervis have played key roles in the club’s recent golden era.
The 30-year old Grimes, an All-Australian, reigning best and fairest winner and two-time winner of the player-voted Francis Bourke Award for best embodying club values, has been one of Richmond’s most important and reliable stars over his 192-game career.
Meanwhile, Nankervis, 27, has been a brilliant addition heading up the Tigers’ ruck division since getting traded from Sydney at the end of 2016. The big man has made 86 of his 98 AFL appearances in the yellow and black.
“Dylan and Toby play football the way we think it should be played. They are tough, uncompromising, and team orientated,” Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said in a statement.
“It is fair to say we entered this decision expecting to end up with one captain, but it became clear to us after an exhaustive process that we had two fine leaders ready to represent and lead our football club.
“One thing we do value is the process itself and its wonderful to be able to recognise these two fine young men. We are incredibly excited to see them lead us in 2022.”
Richmond general manager of football performance Tim Livingstone also had full faith in the duo leading the club into the future as the Tigers look to bounce back from their disappointing drop out of the top eight last season.
“As a football club, we place enormously high regard on the importance of leadership. Clearly, our planning for our future leadership format has come to fruition in the last few months following Trent selflessly standing down as captain,” Livingstone said.
“We had a rigorous process, and after gaining a shared understanding of what it takes to be a leader at Richmond and seeking input from the entire football department and endorsement from the Board, we reached the exciting decision to have Toby and Dylan as our co-captains.
“Having co-captains speaks to the team’s depth of leadership and together they will serve the overall system of the Club very well, given the way that they complement each other.”
It comes after the club sensationally ditched a traditional leadership group concept last year, with Cotchin captaining it and Riewoldt serving as his vice-captain.
