Nick Stapleton to share captaincy at St George for 2017-18 season

Nick Stapleton will captain the side in the absence of Trent Copeland when the NSW quick is on representative duty after the retirement of veteran opening batsman Stewart McCabe.

The appointment is a glowing endorsement of Stapleton’s leadership qualities, with the 25-year-old in only his third season at the club.

Last season was a difficult one for St George after the loss of a number of experienced players. The silver lining was the experience gained by a host of younger players including Nathan Ellis, Jonathan Rose and Luke Bartier which Stapleton believes will help push Saints back towards the finals.

“It’s a really exciting time for us,” he said.

“We didn’t have a great season last year but we’ve got a really talented young side. While we are quite young a lot of guys are fairly experienced now for their age with a lot of games under their belts.

“We didn’t finish where we wanted to in terms of the table but we were in quite a lot of games. We just didn’t have that experience to take those moments on and win the game. A year on and we do have that experience and knowledge to be able to idenfity those situations and what we need to do.”

St George host Hawkesbury at Hurstville Oval on Saturday to begin their 2017-18 campaign looking to get off to a strong start. But it shapes as a tricky clash for Saints against last season’s beaten limited-overs finalists.

“When we turn up to Hurstville we’re always expecting to win most of our matches,” Stapleton said.

“In saying that it’ll be tough. They made the one-day final last year and obviously play limited-overs cricket quite well. It’ll be a really good test to see where we’re at.

“Of course [playing finals] is why you play cricket. The goal is always to play finals and personally it’s what I want to see.

“I’ve put pressure on myself to contribute to that. In terms of outside pressure everyone at the club has been extremely supportive and I’m excited to see how we progress.”