Following Jarryd Roughead’s captaincy announcement earlier this month, there has been an outpouring of support and congratulations for the new Hawks skipper.
According to Shaun Burgoyne, Roughead has been shown the full support of his teammates and the club in his early days as captain.
“It’s an unbelievable story,” Burgoyne told SEN on Tuesday morning.
“Everyone is extremely happy and proud of the way he’s conducted himself.”
Burgoyne is also thrilled for Roughead on a personal level, as the pair have maintained a close connection since Burgoyne joined the club in late 2009.
“He’s a fantastic bloke.”
“I hold a special spot in my heart for him because when I was first drafted to Hawthorn I lived with him for the first three months, so I’m very happy for him.”
“He’s working extremely hard on the field, and I just can’t wait to see him run out there.”
Burgoyne has also demonstrated his own leadership abilities across the last year in his role as Chair of the AFLPA Indigenous Advisory Board.
According to Burgoyne, one of the central efforts of the board is to minimise the challenges faced by Indigenous players when they join AFL clubs.
“The number of indigenous players is growing at the moment so our challenges are rising each year, particularly because some of them are remote, some of them are from the city.”
“We aim to keep all those guys updated with the challenges that players face, especially when they head from small remote towns into elite environments, so hopefully we can make their transition easier and have [indigenous] players stay in the game longer.”
The Hawks defender is set to lead a party of 55 indigenous players to Broome on Wednesday for a camp focusing on personal cultural development and industry education.
Listen to the full interview below.
