New Wests Tigers captain Moses Mbye said he was somewhat surprised when new coach Michael Maguire gave him the top job — saying he felt honoured to lead the team forward in 2019.
Having played just nine games for Wests Tigers since joining the club midway through the 2018 season, the 25-year-old Mbye said there was some initial reluctance to take on the new role given his young family and his new arrival to the club before a conversation with Maguire helped ease his concerns.
"I think it's a responsibility that I'm quite enjoying so far," Mbye said.
"It means more than just football — it means leading from the front.
"It's about building a culture and driving a culture that has trust around the whole organisation.
"I do have a pretty full plate with three kids at home so I did think twice about it," Mbye admitted. "I had some deep chats with Madge about it and we worked it out and this is the outcome.
"I was concerned with the commitments at home — my responsibilities as a father means my family comes first — and I didn't want to devote too much time than what was needed. But the way Madge is controlling things and the strength of the leadership group we have, the time thing wasn't going to be so consuming for me.
Moses Mbye revealed as Wests Tigers captain
"I thought that, as far as leadership goes, I had the qualities of that," he added.
"Everywhere you go in life, it doesn't matter whether you've been there one day or ten years; you try to be yourself and lead from the front. If you have that quality of leadership then you express that and you try to be the best version of yourself.
"I'm truly honoured that the boys and coaching staff thought of me in that way.
"It's humbling and something I want to put my best foot forward in."
Still only 25 years of age, Mbye will be one of the youngest captains in the NRL this year — leading to questions about his ability to tell players like Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah, who he grew up idolising, what to do on the field.
"It's not so much about telling people what to do," he said.
"Everyone assumes that the captaincy is about barking orders but I'm not their schoolteacher and I'm not their father. We work as a collective leadership group and we're a really strong group — guys with over 200 games experience — and I think we're far more powerful as a group when we put our heads together."
See what Moses Mbye had to say in full about the role in the video above!
