After three seasons as vice-captain, Gabby Seymour has been trusted by her peers to take the next step and lead the team as co-captain, alongside Ellie McKenzie, for the upcoming AFLW season.
Although holding the co-captain title, Seymour believes that everyone in the team has the responsibility to show leadership and step up when the moment calls for it.
“I think something that we've always tried to instil at Richmond is that it doesn't matter what your title is, when it's your time to lead, it's your time to lead,” Seymour told Richmond Media.
“So, in some ways, I hope to see that across all of our leadership group this year, it doesn't matter if you're a group member or a non-leadership group member as well, pick your time to lead, and if we do that, we're going to be in a pretty good position.”
Seymour has been a core pillar of the playing group since Richmond’s inception in the league, and in that time, she has finished in the top three in the Club’s best and fairest on three separate occasions. The defender said it was a great honour to now be named co-captain and she is excited for the challenge.
“It's a huge honour to be voted co-captain by my peers,” Seymour said.
“I've spent a little bit of time thinking about how I actually learned to kick a footy at Punt Road, so I feel like if you told the girl who learned to kick here a couple of years back that you'd be captain of the Club one day, I probably wouldn't have believed you.
“I’m incredibly excited to work alongside Ellie as well. I feel like we really complement each other nicely, and I’m just very humbled to be leading the group.”
Succeeding long-time teammate and close friend, Katie Brennan, Seymour acknowledged the influence Brennan’s leadership has had on her and said she hopes to embody the same tendencies in her captaincy tenure.
“KB's had a massive influence on this group. I think one of my favourite things about KB is that no matter what's happening, she always manages to find an optimistic spin,” Seymour said.
“I think the sun always comes up when you're around KB, and just the way that you can bring energy to the group, always keep a sense of hope about the group as well, that's something I'll hope to take from her.
“How much you need to care about the people around you as well, making sure that you know you care about them as a person before they're a footballer.”
Rounding out the leadership group alongside Seymour and McKenzie as co-captains are Monique Conti (vice-captain), Beth Lynch, Bec Miller and Sarah Hosking.
Seymour held high praise for the group and is excited to see what each of them can bring to the team.
“I think across the group, I see a real mix of strengths. Mon Conti really leads through her actions on the field," Seymour said.
“You've got Bec, who's about as reliable as they come, and if you talk about living the values, then Bec is exactly that.
“You've got Beth, who I think is the bravest player out there. I vote for her every year in the [Players' Association] awards for the most courageous player, so we look to her for that.
“Then Hosko's just this ball of energy, she can have anything going on in the world, but when she turns up here, she's got a smile on her face and all this love to give for her teammates, so you put that together, and I think that's a pretty formidable combination.”
Seymour is eager to see how the new-look Tigers gel under the new coaching staff, with an array of fresh playing personnel added to the mix.
“Something really refreshing that comes with change is a lot of energy, and I think that's something that the group's really had," she said.
“Really trying to focus on our ball movement and embedding a new game plan and just being predictable to one another as well with the changes that are happening across the Club.”
