Guy McKenna: Defender Tom Barrass has the right qualities to be West Coast Eagles' next captain

Tom Barrass has the right footy CV to become West Coast’s 15th captain.

He ticks three important boxes for the Eagles: 1. He is resilient. 2. He is consistent under fire. 3. He is a backman.

At West Coast, the captaincy case regularly rests with the defence.

Of the 14 Eagles skippers since foundation, six have been backmen: Murray Rance, John Worfold, myself, Darren Glass, Eric Mackenzie and Shannon Hurn.

Barrass, who I am going to dub “Tombstone Tommy” because he puts forwards to sleep, is cut from the same cloth as Glass.

There is no fuss and no theatrics. He just goes out there each game with a fierce determination to be the last hope dressed in a blue and gold jumper to hold up the opposition’s chance for a score.

Dig a little deeper at West Coast and only four of its captains have skippered more than 100 games —- John Worsfold (138), Glass (129) Shannon Hurn (123) and Ben Cousins (109) — three defenders and a midfielder.

Up until Luke Shuey’s appointment in 2020, the defenders accounted for 440 games as captain versus 245 by the others.

Across the league, of the AFL 18 captains this season, only three can be classified as defenders: Richmond’s Dylan Grimes, Sydney’s Dane Rampe and Port Adelaide’s Tom Jonas.

The captaincy role should not be undersold. It’s crucial to a team’s success.

When asked what I look for in a captain, one name stands out: Collingwood’s Gavin Brown, who led the Pies from 1994 to 1998.

I rate Brown as the toughest opponent I played on and it’s an elite field, given I stood Terry Daniher, Gary Ablett Sr, Derek Kickett, Darren Jarman and Mark Mecuri, among others.

Whether the sun was shining or teaming with rain, whether the Magpies were 10 goals up or 10 goals down, you always got a fierce contest from Browny.

And that’s exactly what you get from Tombstone Tommy.

No matter the conditions, opponent or the state of the game you want your skipper hard as a rock, cool as a Swiss glacier and leading the way for others to follow. That’s Tom.

You are generally a product of your environment and I was lucky to have played under some great skippers — Glendinning, Malaxos and Rance in my formative years. They taught me how to prepare, train, play and compete.

All were different in the delivery of their message as most leaders are, but all had one common trait — they were fiercely competitive.

That competitive beast within was best exemplified by the skipper I spent the most time along side in Worsfold.

Woosha took over the captaincy at 23 and from that day until his last game in blue and gold, if you’d played football in a different colour to him or you crossed the line with a Eagle player I can guarantee it would press his buttons. The mild-mannered pharmacist become The Incredible Hulk.

The cockatoo’s comb, as we would call it, would flair on the top of his head. Just like a cocky he would dart his head from side to side assessing his course of action but having a laser focus on his target.

As a fellow defender the next thing you would hear was the sickening slap of skin on skin, hence the nickname “Woosha”, which was the sound of him approaching like the roar of the Indian Pacific at maximum speed on the Nullarbor.

When I was a young defender, the thought of crossing paths with Tony Lockett and Ron Boucher would give you keep you awake the night before a game.

But that was nothing compared to the thought of competitive training or one-on-one work against Woosha.

Roy and HG might have dubbed rugby league prop Glenn Lazarus the “brick with eyes” but they went a step further with Woosha, calling him the “brick wall with eyes”.

It was perfect. Trying to get past him at training or in a match was literally like running through that aforementioned brick wall.

That said Worsfold had a quality deputy in Michael Brennan. Worsfold led by deed. Brennan was the verbal one.

He wouldn’t flap his gums as such, but when needed, his words and tone would cut through to your bones.

Often playing on the best tall forward he would certainly let the more free-wheeling defenders know when their opponents got off the chain and started feeding his opponent.

Much underrated “Bernard” Brennan was highly respected amongst the Eagles in the ’90s.

Both Worsfold and Brennan would conduct what we would call “code reds” if they thought playing group standards were being compromised.

I’m not sure how it would fly these days and it was never physical but the verbal barrage delivered certainly left most players’ ears and egos battered and bruised.

My time as a leader alongside Woosha and “Monkey” as Brennan was also known was underlined by an education from our coach Mick Malthouse.

His leadership lessons were never in a classroom or lecture room environment, but were more of an arm around you “let’s go for a walk” talk.

The modern leader is now armed with the lessons of the numerous leadership companies out there.

Young leaders learn to lead themselves, emerging leaders learn the difference between being liked and respected and the senior leaders work closely with senior coaches and translate the coaches’ messages to the rest of the playing group.

The other part to play in deciding who leads is the connection with coach and captain.

The better it is clearly the better the appointment works.

From what I can understand about Malthouse the player he wouldn’t give an inch, to the point where he was once getting beaten by his wife Nanette in a game of par three golf and walked off.

He never admitted defeat. Neither did No. 24. So the Malthouse-Worsfold union was as solid a partnership as there was.

I look at Andy Brayshaw at Fremantle and see similar traits. Clean under pressure, works hard both ways no matter the scoreline and is rarely flustered.

They are qualities that reflect the Dockers’ coach Justin Longmuir. Again, there is the leadership partnership.

Put some senior heads around Brayshaw at Fremantle and Barrass at the Eagles and you will have united, flint hard teams ready to stand their ground the going gets tough.

Footnote: Like defenders often make skippers, across the numerous football clubs it seems forwards take on the key media roles — Jon Brown, Nick Riewoldt, Jason Dunstall, Cam Mooney, Garry Lyon and Ben Dixon to name a few.