Western Force backrower Michael Wells has been named captain for the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season.
Wells joined the club at the start of the year from the Rebels, who they will play in Saturday's opening game at HBF Park.
The 29-year-old links up with former club coach Simon Cron, honoured by the appointment ahead of his club debut.
"The first chat was probably only a few weeks ago," he said in a statement.
"It's a thing that happens organically. You naturally see people who are more suited to leadership positions. It's got to be given to you by virtue of how you mix with the group and how you interact with everyone.
"Hopefully, the team feels like I'm the right person for the job because, at the end of the day, if you lose the face of the playing group, you lose the game.
"I've known him (Simon Cron) since 2011, when he first started coaching Norths in Sydney. My relationship with him is pretty aligned in how we see the game. We are both more technically and tactically oriented and reasonably blunt. I would say 'Crony differs to me in that his obsession with rugby is second to none. I've never met someone who contributed so much time to probably the detriment of other things. He is very committed to getting the results, and that's also his expectation of everyone, I buy into that completely.
"I've probably never had the same amount of faith that I do in a coaching group as I do here. If there are results to be had, they'll get them out of the group and they'll get the amount of everyone. For him and me, he's made me most of the player that I am today in terms of the abilities that I have, and the way I see the game; a lot of that's down to his rugby brain and the IP that he's given to me across the years that we've had at Norths."
Wells is the seventh captain in the club's history since 2006, taking over from hooker Feleti Kaitu'u.
He led the Rebels in 2022 and believes the experience will only make him better heading into the future.
"I definitely learned a lot from having my first experience as a captain of a Super Rugby team last year (Melbourne Rebels). What I'll bring to this role is knowing to put my performance first, and if I'm doing my job, it gives my words a bit more value when I speak," he believes.
"I also learned that you need to connect with people on a higher level as a captain. Knowing that you have to build relationships with people so they trust you on the field, they trust what you're saying, and they trust that you've got their best interests at play.
"We've got a great group here. Forwards wise, Folau (Fainga'a), (Izack) Rodda, and Feleti, I can lean on them to deliver messages. In the backs, Hamish (Stewart), Bryce Hegarty, Ian Prior, Sam Spink...this allows me to step back, and focus on my performance at times, but then also gives my words more power when I choose to speak because it's not getting delivered to people all the time."
