ON THE MAN HE REPLACED

Paul Gallen had a lot of leadership qualities and a lot of respect from the playing group, which I admired. That’s how he goes about his business. He’s a very tough competitor. He says it how it is. If he says he’ll do something, he’s going to do it. What he said, he really meant. He led by his actions; he still does to this day. I loved playing with Gal. He’s a really good bloke.

I try and do my best in that area, but obviously playing under a guy like Paul Gallen, you’d be silly not to take a few things and implement them. In saying that, I’d like to think I’ll do stuff my way as well. I’m still only young as a leader and captain; I’m still learning along the way and growing. Hopefully I can do a good job again.

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I haven’t changed my game around Origin very much at all. I’ll always go out and put in 100-percent effort for my team-mates. The only thing that changes for me as far as being captain is concerned is the responsibility of talking to the refs and rallying the troops when something needs to be said. Most of that is spur-of-the-moment stuff. It’s not a hard job. That’s just the way it is. Part and parcel of it all.

- as told to James Smith

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