The North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos have appointed a new-look leadership group to support captain Emma Kearney for the 2022 season.
The group has expanded from four to six ahead of the upcoming campaign, with the players voting Danielle Hardiman and Nicole Bresnehan into leadership roles.
Kearney, the team’s captain since its AFLW introduction in 2019, is one of just two players to have been selected for the All-Australian side in every AFLW season, and she’s finished as runner-up in the club best and fairest two years in a row.
Ruck/forward Emma King has earned promotion to become the club’s vice-captain for the first time in her career, after being a member of the leadership group in 2021.
After arriving at Arden St from Collingwood in 2019, King has been a mainstay of the side.
A two-time All-Australian who is equally as dangerous in her traditional ruck role or as a key forward, King also finished 2019 as North Melbourne’s leading goal kicker.
Onballers Jas Garner and Ash Riddell have retained their positions in the leadership group, with their ‘by example’ style of leadership evident throughout the 2021 campaign.
Garner won All-Australian selection and her second consecutive club best and fairest award last season, cementing herself as one of the competition’s premier players, while Ash Riddell averaged 21.8 disposals per game as she lifted her game to yet another level.
A new addition to the leadership group, Bresnehan established herself as an effective influence in the back half of the ground in 2021, playing every game of the season on the team’s run to finals.
A physical and imposing presence in defence, Bresnehan often wins contests through sheer hard work and grit.
Having crossed from Carlton ahead of 2019, Hardiman has established herself as North’s composer in the defence, directing and positioning those around her in an effort to shut out the opposition.
Forming a key defensive partnership with Tahlia Randall, Hardiman has played 22 games for North, asserting herself as a mainstay in the side over the club’s history.
North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos 2022 leadership group
Emma Kearney (captain), Emma King (vice-captain), Jas Garner, Ash Riddell, Nicole Bresnehan, Danielle Hardiman
