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While external intrigue surrounding the Fremantle captaincy for 2017 continues to grow, Garrick Ibbotson clarified that David Mundy and Nat Fyfe aren't necessarily the only candidates for the top job.
Mundy took the reins from club legend Matthew Pavlich and led Fremantle in trying circumstances during their disappointing four-win campaign last year.
Nat Fyfe, who is coming back from a broken leg and could be a free agent at the end of 2017, is widely viewed as Mundy's main challenger for the role.
However, Ibbotson said Freo boasted a number of candidates to lead the club when the players cast their votes in the coming weeks.
"Obviously Dave (Mundy), I think, did a good job last year in a tough season for the club, so until everybody does their votes I don't really know (who it will be)," he said.
"I think (Fyfe's) definitely capable, but Mundy did a great job, Lee Spurr possibly could as well. There's plenty of guys at our football club who are capable of being captain.
"That's what we pride ourselves on, picking a leadership group and we've usually had five or six guys that could probably step into the role.
"It's more about the group for us. I understand the interest in the captaincy with Dave and Fyfey … but for us it's more about spreading the load."
Under the Fremantle system, the players voice their leadership group votes in front of the entire squad, with their overall choice for skipper then ratified by the board.
"The reason behind it is once you stand up and say your vote, you're owning it," Ibbotson said.
While interest builds around Fremantle’s leadership group, Ibbotson clarified that the vote is still a few weeks away.
“We’ve haven’t done the vote yet,” Ibbotson said.
“At the moment we’re due to do the vote in early February,”
Freo sweated through a testing open training session on Friday in front of hundreds of fans at Fremantle Oval.
Ibbotson has enjoyed an injury-free pre-season to date and is keen to start playing alongside defensive recruit Joel Hamling in the upcoming JLT Community Series.
Fremantle will also have the chance to test out how they can exploit Aaron Sandilands' ruck dominance following the outlawing of the 'third-man up' at stoppages.
"I'm sure he probably appreciates it a little bit … he doesn't have to worry about guys jumping into his back," Ibbotson said.
"It helps that you don't have to worry about a third-party going into the contest, and even for midfielders not to have to worry about stopping their opponents being third-up."