Successful Melbourne Demons player Nathan Brown has returned to the club after finishing his AFL career last year, to captain the league side.

Brown played for Pinnaroo before moving to West Adelaide and then onto Melbourne.

In an interview with the West Adelaide Bloods, Brown said he was “rapt” to be back at the club.

“I just wanted to come back and play and be a leader and a contributor,” he said.

“I wasn’t looking at the captaincy, but it’s a great honour and I’m very proud to be a part of developing our young list.”

West Adelaide talent manager and under 19 coach Simon Hughes said the club worked closely with the Mallee Football League to give promising players an opportunity with the Bloods.

“They (the captains) have all shown leadership qualities among their respective groups and are well liked by their playing groups and also their coaches in under 17s and 19s,” Hughes said.

Ryan Nickolls, another Pinnaroo player, has taken on the under 19s captaincy, and plays at half back and full forward.

Dustin Head and Brett Heintze were both showing strong leadership and are co-captains for the under 17s.

Head is from Border Downs Tintinara and Heintze is a former Murrayville player.

Other players from BDT at West Adelaide include Ryan Cornish, Patrick Barrett and Chad Kennett.

Hughes said there were some Mallee players the club was keeping an eye on, including Thomas Keogh, from Pinnaroo, who was named in the Country Youth Championships team of the tournament, and Joshua Rudiger from Karoonda.

“We are trying to lure them down (to West Adelaide),” Hughes said.