The club made the announcement at their regular Tuesday training session this week, while also announcing a supporting four-man leadership group.
The leadership group is made up of key players Todd Gallagher, Ash Morris, Matt MacDonald and Ricky Gittens, who are all home grown Deni Rams footballers.
Anstee — a graduate veterinarian who moved to town in 2016 to take up a position at the Deniliquin Veterinary Clinic — said he was honoured to be offered the club captaincy.
‘‘I was taken aback a bit when ‘Frog’ and Sam (Rams co-coaches Troy Bartlett and Sam Hall) approached me about the role, especially given I’m relatively new at the club,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s something I’m very honoured to accept. The Deniliquin Rams are a well-known regional club and have a very long and successful history. We have the perfect opportunity, as a group, to create a great culture and with our youthful side there is a lot of enthusiasm to turn our fortunes around after a tough couple of years.
‘‘I couldn’t ask for a better leadership group, all these guys bring something different to the table and really lead the way around the club.
‘‘We know there is a lot of work to be done. We’ve had a lot of buy-in so far from the playing group with positive player numbers and intensity at training so I’m very excited about the year ahead.’’
Anstee came to the Rams from the Wagga Tigers where he was one of the Riverina Football League’s star players across six seasons.
He won a premiership and best and fairest with the Tigers and was a consistent interleague representative.
The 27 year-old has hardly missed a game in two seasons with the Rams, winning a club best and fairest in his first year and named one of the Murray League’s best players in its interleague hit-out last year.
‘‘The Rams have been extremely supportive to me,’’ Anstee said.
‘‘I’m honoured to be captain and I can see we’re a side that’s going places. With a great group of young talent coming through and some more experienced heads returning this year, I feel we are developing a good mix in the group.’’
Co-coach Hall said the club couldn’t be happier with its leadership group.
‘‘John’s such an outstanding role model, not just for young footballers but for young people in general. He’s a young man who’s well educated and dedicated to his job, but he also keeps himself fit, works hard on his footy and really leads the way on and off the field.
‘‘He takes his footy seriously but understands the healthy balance between work, footy and a social life, which we encourage. We’re rapt to have him lead our club and it’s a testament to his character and the respect he has at the Rams and around town in general that he’d be offered this role after just two years here.
‘‘We’re rapt with our whole leadership team. Gags (Gallagher), Ash, Ricky and Macca (MacDonald) are all Rams juniors and are leaders at our club; they work really hard on the training track and have been very loyal and are good role models as well.’’
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