Fremantle veteran David Mundy has boldly declared he wants to lead from the front in a rapid rise back into finals contention.
Mundy took a significantly stronger approach to coach Ross Lyon's assessment of prospects of as much as a four-year rebuild with confidence the Dockers could recover as early as next season despite a horrid 2016 yielding just four wins and a dismal 16th finish on the ladder.
He wants to engineer that rebound as Dockers captain.
Mundy's only apparent rival as Dockers captain into next season's planned revival is expected to be superstar on-baller Nat Fyfe who will resume after missing almost the entire 2016 season a broken leg.
Fyfe, 24, will be out of contract at the end of next season and could consider a move as a restricted free agent if the superstar play-maker hasn't come to terms with Fremantle on a new deal, tipped to be more than $1 million a season.
An attraction in Fyfe's Fremantle future will be the lure of captaincy.
Mundy was adamant he wants to keep Fremantle's top player's appointment when the popular follower fronted a media conference in Perth less than 24 hours after an end-of-season 20-point win over a finals-bound Western Bulldogs.
"I take great pride and honour in being the captain of this football club," Mundy said
"It's player-elected and they'll choose that early next year, I assume.
"But I've really enjoyed my time as captain and would really love the challenge of going again."
Mundy has just completed his first season as Dockers skipper.
The prolific ball-winner was elevated to captain in controversial manner from a voting system conducted by Dockers players back in January to replace record-serving skipper Matthew Pavlich when the champion had stepped down ahead of his final season.
It is understood that Lyon and senior Dockers officials wanted Fyfe to take over from Pavlich as captain.
But the reigning Brownlow medallist did not win enough support in a 5-4-3-2-1 count taken by all listed players.
Mundy has made 251 Dockers appearances and sits second on Fremantle's all-time games tally list behind Pavlich, who retired on Sunday after his outstanding 353-match career.
Mundy played 18 of a possible 22 games in a horrible Dockers season on the back of last year's minor premiership from a club-record 17 home-and-away wins.
He was his side's fourth highest possession winner this season at an average of around 24 disposals an outing as well as making more than five important clearances a game.
Mundy was again productive with 28 disposals and eight clearances in Sunday's farewell outing for Pavlich, an emotion-charged win.
The All-Australian was somewhat at loggerheads with Lyon's surprising turnabout late last week with his assessment that a Dockers recovery could take up to four seasons with substantial priority on recruiting young and gifted talent through a succession of national drafts.
Lyon had previously indicated plans for a rapid revival into finals calculations with anticipated returns to full-time playing duties from injured stars Fyfe, Aaron Sandilands, Michael Johnson and Harley Bennell who have all missed significantly large chunks of this season.
Dockers management are also understood to have ambitions for an influx of class and talent with hopes to recruit triple Hawthorn premiership winger Brad Hill, disgruntled Greater Western Sydney forward Can McCarthy and at least another big name import to join a 2017 recovery effort.
"I've got different opinions about a number of things than Ross and that may just be one," Mundy said.
"All I know is that we're working really hard together to try and make sure that the rebuild, or the bounce, is as quick as it can be and we're back playing finals football as soon as we can be.
"That's what we're here for."
