HELENSBURGH Rugby Club head coach David Calderwood will leave the choice of captain for next season to his playing squad – saying he would be happy for any of the senior players to skipper the squad.

A long-serving player and coach at the club, Calderwood took the reigns at Ardencaple last month after Adam Hart stepped down.

Hart departed after a year in charge which saw the Grizzlies struggle for numbers at training and struggle on the pitch as the were relegated from West Division 1.

The choice of captain will be one of Calderwood’s first big calls at the helm, but he insists the players will have a say in the running of the club going forward and the decision on captain will be one he is happy to leave to them.

He said: “I grew up in an era where the players chose the captain. The guys who are about the club now, the guys that I would see that would maybe be captain I’d be quite happy to work with anyway.

“They’ve been about the club awhile and I’ve played with them so I know them all quite well, any one of them will do a great job, and I’ll leave it up to the players.

“I want them to have their say as well. It’s not going to be everything coming from me, it’s got to be coming from the whole club, the players, committees and coaches as well. We have to have everybody pulling the same way so it’s not one person being very dictatorial, that can quite easily go wrong.”

Jonny Drake captained the side last year and looks likely to be a leading contender to continue the role. He previously told the Advertiser: “If I was offered the opportunity I would, there’s no better honour than representing your club and family and friends”

First on Calderwood’s to do list with the squad is to work the players hard in pre-season to iron out the fitness issues that disrupted the Grizzlies last season as the prepare for a promotion push in West Division 2.

The head coach admitted there had been a commitment issue at Ardencaple last season which he is confident is now behind the Grizzlies.

He added: “There are 60 players there, there is enough people there.

“If the boys start going to fitness, coming to training and they’ll start enjoying it a bit more, they’ll keep coming and make themselves more available.