Aaron Black will captain Geelong's VFL team in 2021.

Black was initially named to captain the side in 2020 until the season was cut short due Covid.

Darcy Lang has been named as vice captain with Callum Mitchell, Daniel Capiron and Jackson Thurlow rounding out the leadership group.

VIEW 2021 VFL SQUAD

With a side hungry to play some footy, Black has already got things well-prepared with a side that looks vastly familiar to the 2020 squad.

“We basically took off where we left off,” Black said

“We didn’t all have to learn the game-plan...because the work was already done the year before.”

As a well-travelled player, Black takes an approach to leadership that works well with his own persona.

“I just be myself really more than anything,” he said

“I think my biggest side of things is that I can build relationships with players and I also know both sides of it, being AFL listed and VFL listed.”

“I think I can communicate well between both sides there and be that middle man.”

With such a talented senior side, there’s bound to be a few guys playing in the VFL team throughout the year.

As captain, Black sees the most important thing to get right early is the team chemistry throughout the entire men’s group.

“It all starts, I reckon, with building relationships,” Black said.

“The quicker we can gel together the better it is and I reckon we’ve already started that with the AFL boys we’re training with.”

“The intensity goes up a notch, training with them, but that’s brilliant because that’s what we play against on the weekend.”

With the rest of the leadership squad accumulating plenty of experience playing professional footy, the onus isn’t all on Black to get this talented side going.

“We’ve got Darcy Lang and Jackson Thurlow back this year so obviously they know the program inside and out.”

“This year we’ve got a really good group of guys, some might not be in the leadership group as such, but they’re all leaders.” 

“It’s an exciting time ahead and we can’t wait to get started, it feels like we’ve played about 20 practise games!”

The 2021 VFL season (finally!) begins this weekend, with the Bankers facing North Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium, 1pm Sunday.