The great man, Warren Saunders, gave me many great ideas in regard to captaincy, but the 2 mentioned below are ones that I never forgot and have passed these ideas onto other captains along the way.

1. At the start of a season, set your team a target for the number of wins that you need to have to achieve your goal of making the semi-finals or possibly the top 3-4 positions on the ladder. For the sake of argue, let's say 10 wins out of 15 games. In this way when you have a loss, it's not the end of the world, you simply need to refocus on the winning mentality to get back on the road that you have set out. I think this attitude helps sides not slide into self-doubt and lack of confidence. This also creates the mentality of always going for a win rather than having a fear of losing.

2. At the start of a season address all your players together. Explain your expectations for the season but particularly point out that you don't want to hear any whinging or complaints 2nd hand through someone's teammate, or parent or whoever. If you have a grievance, bring it directly to the captain as he is the only one who can fix it. If a complaint arrives 2nd hand it will be viewed very badly.