Chelsea Randall’s tenure as Adelaide captain will extend into a record eighth season after she was again endorsed by her teammates to lead them in the 2023 AFLW season.
Randall remains the League’s longest serving Captain at the one Club after she was appointed co-captain of the Crows’ inaugural team in 2017 and has been standalone skipper for the past three seasons.
Fellow defender Sarah Allan will again serve as vice captain and she and Randall will headline an unchanged leadership group from last season which also includes Eloise Jones, Stevie-Lee Thompson and Ebony Marinoff.
Players voted on the leadership group during their pre-season training camp in the Barossa Valley on the weekend and it was endorsed by the Board and senior management this week.
Randall, 32, is a three-time premiership player and four-time All-Australian in her 48 games with Adelaide and said she was proud to have the backing of her teammates to continue as captain into an eighth campaign.
“I feel very humbled and honoured to be part of this journey and to lead such an amazing group of people and athletes,” Randall said.
“Every year you ask yourself what’s best for the group moving forward and what skills and attributes do each of us have to help each other be the best we can be.
“So it’s always very humbling when your peers nominate you as captain but I’m also super passionate about empowering others and creating more leaders for our future.
“We’re really lucky at our football club that we have some incredible leaders in our group with Sarah Allan, Stevie-Lee Thompson, Ebony Marinoff and Eloise Jones, but I’m also really excited about that next tier of leaders within our squad.
“We had 15 girls who were nominated for the leadership group this year which is an awesome sign of the strength of the group.
“The AFLW competition continues to grow every season, it’s faster, more skilful and highly competitive and we can’t wait to play in front our members and fans this year.”
Senior Coach Matthew Clarke said the leadership group had a perfect blend of experience to take the team forward.
“We’re really excited the leadership group will be headed up by Chelsea who has been an outstanding leader not just for our team but the AFLW community,” Clarke said.
“Our five player leadership group provides a breadth of experience, diversity and perspective that most clubs in the competition would be envious of.
“Sarah, Ebony and Eloise are all young players in their own right and Stevie-Lee and Chelsea are our more senior players which brings a good balance to the group.
“Although the leadership team is the same as last season we are also really excited to have a number of emerging leaders who are stepping up and playing important roles within our team.”
