NEW BRISBANE Lions coach Chris Fagan seems a little less concerned about who becomes the club's next captain than the rest of the footy world.
Either that or he's just a really good actor.
One of the first things Fagan did once assuming the coaching role from Justin Leppitsch in October was to announce that Tom Rockliff would not be guaranteed the captaincy in 2017.
That got everyone guessing.
Would the new skipper be two-time best and fairest winner Dayne Zorko? Or maybe Collingwood premiership player Dayne Beams?
Or could Rockliff get another look in?
Fagan has gone to great lengths to explain what an exemplary figure Rockliff has been around the group this pre-season.
Sunday's JLT Community Series match against Gold Coast gives Fagan the first on-field glimpse of who his captain might be, but the rookie coach didn't seem overly fussed.
In fact, when quizzed who would captain on Sunday, he said he still had to work that out, before giving a chuckle that suggested he hadn't yet given it a thought.
"I might go back and think about that this afternoon," Fagan said.
"We've had a lot of guys step (up) and lead over the pre-season. We'd like to think the same thing will happen on the weekend in the game, and we'll just work out who's going to toss the coin, because that's all that's involved.
"But (it's a) good question."
He said the Lions would make an ultimate decision for the season ahead "probably sometime over the next two or three weeks".
In the meantime he'll watch his new team run out against the Suns, minus Beams (knee) and Allen Christensen (shoulder), who will both play later in the pre-season.
"It's an opportunity to learn more about our team under pressure from an opposition," Fagan said.
"We've picked our best available team, that's our philosophy.
"The coaching group would like to see how well our players execute the gameplan.
"We'd like to see the habits we've worked on over the pre-season come out in a game.
"Our expectation of ourselves, every time we go out to play, is that we're trying to win.
"We're putting that pressure on ourselves to try and win every time we play.
"It's obviously difficult to achieve … but that's got to be our attitude if we want to be a great club again."
Also see: Week 1 Team
