Murphy new king at Tigerland
Reigning club champion Jake Murphy is Claremont's new captain.
The 24-year-old, who replaces Andrew Browne, is coming off the best season of his career.
Browne was among a host of premiership players who retired at the end of last season, joining Chad Jones, Paul Medhurst and Byron Schammer.
Murphy averaged 25 disposals a game last season and booted 17 goals.
The midfielder's appointment as skipper is a tale of perseverance.
He forced his way into Claremont's experienced line-up after playing just 27 matches in his first three league seasons.
Tigers football manager Dean Horsington said Murphy was very popular with the players, who voted him into the position.
"He's done the hard yards," Horsington said. "He's done his time in the reserves. He didn't whinge once, he just got on with the job and made himself a better footballer."
Luke Blackwell and Trinity Handley are joint vice-captains.
The appointments coincide with an unexpected bonus for Claremont, with dual premiership player Andrew Foster returning.
Foster, 28, trained with the Tigers on Monday night and has reversed his decision to step away from football after securing a new job and freeing up time to play again.
Claremont will meanwhile replicate the dimensions of the MCG at their temporary home for the next two seasons in a bid to get a tactical advantage over the rest of the competition.
The club will start training at Claremont Showground from the second week of April as the venue becomes their new base while a $16 million redevelopment of nearby Claremont Oval is completed.
The ground will be marked to match the MCG dimensions - 160m long by 141m wide.
"Hopefully even our local AFL clubs might choose to train at the venue," Horsington said. "The Showground is a nice, big, wide open space, so we thought we'd make use of it and bring the boundary line closer to the fence.
"Michael Broadbridge, the coach, thinks we can use it to our advantage."
