Expectations of captains

Captains have an important role at PPT, we will support you in that role (far more than similar organisations) but we have the following expectations. Note these also apply to anyone acting in the role of captain, so if you are absent whoever you are delegating the captaincy to should also be familiar with this:

Captains are expected to:

• Minimise fill ins

  Things come up so sometimes getting players to fill in is unavoidable. But fill ins should be limited to only those players needed to ensure the game goes ahead. It should also be infrequent, if the team is struggling with committed numbers you should either recruit through you own channels or ask for our assistance in adding permanent players to the team from our single player pool

• Recruit the right way

  Captains are responsible for who is on the team list, in order to ensure the health of the our social competition we require captains to ask permission from the committee if:

  1. Wish to have more than two representative players on the team.
  2. Wish to recruit a player from other teams that normally play that season
  3. Wish to recruit a player from SWITCH or the pre season night player pool (who they did not know before the preseason)

• Organise a uniform for the team

  Before week 3 teams must be in uniform. A uniformed in simply similarly coloured tops in any colour except white (as that colour is used by our referees), white and another colour is okay. The tops do not need to be identical but they do need to be similar enough that the referee can tell players are on the same team.The tops must also have a unique number on the back, numbers can be drawn but they must be legible to the referee and permanent (not taped on).

  Teams not in uniform may be penalised in the form of tries per player not in uniform awarded to the non offending team, or the out of uniform player sent home. At the discretion on referee.

  It is the captains responsibility to ensure regular players have a uniform by week 3. If the team has players filling in the captain should also supply a uniform for those players.

  If you need a uniform, you can purchase a set from us at below cost prices (see here), organise your own, or even buy a set of similar tops from the op shop and iron on or draw permanent numbers on the back.

• Send us a team list and ensure only eligible players play

  The captain is required to send us the names of all players on the team in the first half of the season. You can amend or add eligible players to that list at any time. Note the following rules:

  1. Only listed players, who have played 4 games during the regular season or grading, can play finals.
  2. A team can have no more than two representative players on the list. Having representative players fill in (for non finals games) is fine but if a player has played more than 3 games they are a regular.
  3. Members cannot be listed for two teams on the same night in the same format.

  Exemptions to the above may be granted on request

• Coordinate the team and communicate promptly

  At PPT forfeits do not occur, we have a system to prevent. Team members are expected to keep the captain informed of their availability. If the team numbers are low, captains should never forfeit the game, instead they should contact the committee as early as possible. The committee will then

  1. Find additional players (if possible) so that the match can go ahead. This is almost always the case as we have players looking to join.
  2. If it is not possible to find additional players (this is very rare) the committee will advise both teams that the game is off.

  The key is to communicate early and ensure every player who is available is there (even if it’s 1-2). Teams that fail to comply will be removed from competition banned from future PPT events and their captain suspended. As it unfair to other members.

  Captains should also be proactive in their team management. That means ensuring adequate numbers in the squad to cover unavailability. If captains are unable to recruit through their own channels they should ask the PPT committee as we have people looking to join teams.

• If you have problems ask for help

  The committee is here to help you. We can assist with many issues you have including finding extra players and can also grant exemptions to our requirements. But you need to ask.

• Ensure the team is familiar with membership

  At PPT all regular players are members and it is the captains responsibility to ensure they are aware of that and familiar with the requirements we have for playing members.

If the above sounds like a lot, please note we don’t expect perfection but we expect captains to try, communicate, and most importantly to create a culture of membership and communication within their team.

We support all our members and captains in particular. We captains playing in that have been in that role for more than 20 years. We hope to see you over the next 20 years 😉