Greg Inglis, follow the leader leader leader
When Greg Inglis burst on to the scene with the Melbourne Storm, you couldn't do much else than sit in awe. He was obviously talented spending time in nearly every position of the Storm's back line besides half back and he basically did everything you could do as a footy player in the space of 5 years. The kid was a gun.
What probably crept under the radar a bit was what Inglis was soaking in, what he was learning as a young man from the copious amounts of leaders at the Melbourne Storm. Not leaders as in - you're the best player so I'm going to do what you say, but character leaders, the type of leaders who shape you in to a better human being. Craig Bellamy is a product of Wayne Bennett so Inglis would have learned a lot from Bellamy, as well as the likes of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk. It's pretty weird saying the Inglis played in a shadow with Melbourne because his talents did nothing less than make him stand out, but he was just Greg Inglis.
Inglis played his first game as an NRL captain on the weekend. The only thing that really changed was the joy you saw pouring from Inglis in every interview he did. The way he lead the Rabbitohs on the field both in terms of physical performance and leadership by way of directing the troops etc didn't really change much, that's what he's done every week.
He stepped out of Melbourne, in to Sydney via Brisbane and has never looked back. He's gone from living in a bubble in Melbourne to being the man at one of the biggest clubs in Sydney. Inglis carries himself like a man who has learned a lot as he's traveled down the journey of a great footy player. The way he performs on the field is uncompromising but he knows that what he does greatly influences many people around Australia especially young indigenous folk. He understands the place he holds in society and he's using that podium to do good, whether it be putting smiles on kids faces or if it's being a big brother to the likes of Alex Johnston.
You see, Inglis is someone who has taken the learnings and advice of those leaders in his life and flipped it with some G.I. flavour. It should come as no surprise that Michael Maguire is a product of Bellamy's school of coaching, the lineage continues. I could make a pretty fair argument that Inglis is the best leader in the game and he's only played one game as captain in the NRL. Such is the man.
Greg Inglis doesn't need a captain tag, although you get the feeling after seeing how happy it made him, that it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep the C next to his name. Everything Inglis does has leader stamped on it, now all he needs to do is lead his Bunnies to the 'ship.