Essendon Coach John Worsfold entered the leadership group selection process with an open mind.

The premiership coach said it was important not to have preconceived ideas before establishing whom the players thought were their best leaders.

“Generally we all have assumptions that we make,” Worsfold said.

“I like to sit back and look at what the players voices say before I make any assumption. 

“Getting the data was really good just to look through and being able to give that feedback to all the players on how they’re judged by their peers.

“It’s good solid feedback and players can then from that determine whether they want to focus on areas of improving their leadership, or some players are quite happy not being seen as one of the senior leaders, but leading in their own way.”

Dyson Heppell will be Jobe Watson’s deputy with the 23-year-old named Vice-Captain.

“Dyson shows outstanding leadership traits and the players have identified that as well,” Worsfold said.

“He was really identified as a senior leader so he sits in that group.

“Through talking to the match committee and assessing where everyone was at, we felt Dyson was a great person to step in as that official vice captain.”

Michael Hurley has also been included in the leadership group after being named in the 2015 All-Australian side.

“Hurls is a player who gets around his teammates and really shows a lot of concern and empathy for how they’re going,” Worsfold said. 

“He’s obviously an outstanding performer on game day and he’s a very competitive person so they were three criteria that shone out for him.”

Mark Baguley is another inclusion after landing at the Club in the 2012 Rookie Draft as a mature age recruit.

“He’s very much a competitor and performs on game day and plays his roles and looks out for his teammates,” Worsfold said.