ON SUNDAY night, after Port Adelaide gave St Kilda one hell of a fright, the Power's tough and durable midfielder Kane Cornes was asked if he would like to captain his club one day.

Cornes was honest and said that he doubted he would make a good captain because after eight years in the system, his focus had been too much on himself and not enough on the team.

I sense Cornes has been a driven young man who has focused on proving that he can cut it. First, he has a father, Graham, who was a home-town hero in his playing days with Glenelg and later as the Crows' first coach in the AFL.

And then there was older brother Chad, who has always been bigger, stronger, more athletic and more charismatic. So Kane has always had to dig deep to work his backside off to prove that he can measure up. And he has.

He is now a premiership player, club best-and-fairest winner and a two-time

All-Australian. The younger brother should realise that he has already achieved far more than most could dream of, and set his sights on being club captain. Especially as he now realises he needs to give more to his teammates and think less of himself.

Not all leaders are natural. Essendon's Matthew Lloyd and Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell are works in progress as captains. Their early days were spent focused on themselves. Nathan Buckley was the same.

Lloyd was the teenage superstar who just wanted to kick goals. He measured his success by the number of goals he kicked.

I fancy that in the early days, he would have preferred eight goals in a losing team to, say, two in a winning one.

He would know exactly where he sits on the all-time goalkicking records, and what his goalkicking average is, because that is important to him, but more and more, he is working for the team.

Age and experience bring wisdom and the ability to see the big picture. And the big picture is that football is a team game, and team players are the ones who win the most respect and admiration.

The Hawthorn captain was never blessed with great athleticism and skills. But he has worked tirelessly to build a big motor and can deliver with precision on either side of his body by hand and foot.

He plays with courage and carries himself on and off the field with class. Now he finds himself as a leader, he wants to be the best he can be. So he reads books on leadership. Would Luke Hodge do that? I don't think so. Hodge would act on instinct and more times than not get it right. Mitchell would think and reason before he acted. Just shows there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Buckley captained Collingwood for a record 161 games. He grew into the job. Early days, he was hell-bent on just proving himself. First of all as a schoolboy footballer who struggled. He then had to work through the grades with Port Adelaide in the SANFL and then show he could back up his Magarey Medal with his first year in the big time with the Brisbane Bears.

After that, he went to Collingwood to play with a famous club and team of premiership players. He had to prove he could measure up, and winning awards, I'm sure he felt, was one way to do that.

Buckley's fanatical approach to being the best on the track, in the gym and on match day would have intimidated some of his teammates.

Early days, Buckley couldn't understand why everybody wasn't as committed as he was. He eventually learnt he could influence his teammates not through intimidation, but through education and understanding. He became a wonderful captain of his club.

Of all the present captains, Geelong's Tom Harley seems the one who is most comfortable in the role.

He has no tickets on himself. He knows he isn't a great player and that doesn't faze him. He knows it is all about the team and the club.

He treats people and the game with respect. And since he has taken over as captain, he has never played better football.

So I hope Kane Cornes doesn't sell himself short. It's time Port Adelaide replaced Warren Tredrea as skipper. If appointed and given time, I believe the younger Cornes would make a fine captain.