Cranston a natural leader

RICHELLE Cranston says she might one day be ready to captain Geelong’s AFLW team, but says there are a number of players who could put their hands up for the Cats’ inaugural season.

Cranston, who crossed from the Melbourne Demons after the Cats gained entry into the league, is one of the most experienced footballers on Geelong’s list for its debut season.

The star midfielder said she would relish a leadership opportunity next year, but whether that would be as captain, she was not so sure.

“I think I would love to be in the leadership team — I don’t know if I’m captain material,” she said.

“Maybe one day, but I think we’ve got a few other girls that are probably more suited to it. But I definitely see myself as a leader, so you never know.”

Bec Goring, Melissa Hickey, Aasta O’Connor and Phoebe McWilliams are among some of the other players who could potentially take on the captaincy job.

Cranston said the Demons had been pivotal to her leadership development in the two years she played there.

“I think Melbourne helped me a lot just making me a better person and leader, but the VFL side this year I was introduced into the leadership team and that helped me grow a lot,” she said.

“And the little ones, the younger ones help me as a person and a leader and I think they’re making us better people and better players just with how good they are coming through an elite program.”

More than half of the inaugural list will be made up of VFLW players that progressed to this year’s state league grand final and Cranston said that would hold the AFLW team in good stead.

“I’m super excited; it means we’re already close and we’ve got that bond. I think twothirds of our team is from our VFL side, so we’ve got that core group already, and the few additions we’ve got are really, really good so that helps.”