Adelaide veteran Rory Sloane has earned the right to captain the Crows for a fourth-straight campaign after once again being nominated by his West Lakes peers.
The Crows announced Sloane's leadership retainment on Friday morning, with the 31-year-old alerted of the honour prior to the commencement of training.
While the Victorian will continue to lead in the City of Churches, Adelaide also announced that they would wait until the new year to announce the entirety of their leadership group.
2022 will mark the third season in which Sloane will skipper Matthew Nicks' list in a solo capacity after sharing the role with Taylor Walker in 2019.
Sloane remains the most experienced name under Nicks' stewardship, a fact that Adelaide's Head of Football Adam Kelly expressed via an official statement.
โRory has done an outstanding job not only in the past three years as captain but as a leader throughout his 13 years at the Club,โ Kelly said.
โWe have a young and developing list and Rory is a great role model and mentor for many of those young players, as well as driving standards and encouraging our more experienced guys.
โHe is highly respected by players, coaches and staff alike and his popularity among Members and supporters for the way he goes about his football and as a one-club player is obvious.
โWe congratulate Rory for remaining captain in 2022 and will go through a thorough process to determine who will work with him in the leadership group in the New Year.โ
Having headed the club for 52 of his 229-games, Sloane stated that it was an honour to continue guiding the rebuilding club.
โI love this Club and it is a privilege to lead the playing group,โ he said.
โBut itโs not just one person, we have so many young leaders at our footy club not just within the leadership group and thatโs what excites me.
โThe standards at training show me the team is committed to building on the development we have made in the past two years in particular, and Iโm excited by what we can do going forward.โ
Should Sloane prove able to string together an uninterrupted 2022 season, the Eastern Ranges product will play his 250th game during the Crows' Round 22 date against North Melbourne scheduled to take place at the Adelaide Oval.
