MELBOURNE spearhead David Neitz is prepared to hand over the Demon captaincy at the end of the season, saying he will let the club's new coach make the decision about his leadership.

Tonight, Neitz will become the first Melbourne player in the long history of the club to reach the 300-game milestone, but the 32-year-old, who has been club captain since 1998, says the time might be right to let go of the leadership reins.

Despite nagging knee and finger injuries this season, Neitz, who is now collecting Melbourne records on a regular basis — already holding the record for the most goals kicked by a Demon and the most games as captain — wants to play on next year but only with the approval of whomever takes over the Melbourne coaching position.

"We have to get a new coach so I'll have to wait and see what he has to say. My plans at this stage are to go on next year and just take it year by year as a process, so I'll hopefully kick around next year again. I think I can still contribute to the team."

It is a similar situation with the captaincy, but Neitz seemed relaxed about the prospect of handing over the leadership position. "It might be time for someone else to take over the reigns, or the new coach might want me to be captain again for next year, but we'll discuss that with whoever the coach will be," he said.

Neitz's departure from the top job would open the way for one of the club's leadership group to assume more responsibility.

Cameron Bruce, Brock McLean, Brad Green and James McDonald are the current members of the leadership group, and a likely successor — if one is needed — would probably come from that group.

Although Neitz seems relaxed about allowing much of his future to be decided by an incoming coach, he has no desire to play a role in appointing Neale Daniher's replacement.

"I don't necessarily think it's right for a player to be on a selection panel selecting the coach, so I've decided to stay out of that," Neitz said yesterday.

The full-forward endorsed his former coach Daniher, saying he could coach another club and "do a fantastic job".