Melbourne coach Mark Neeld has a very good idea about who will captain his side in 2012, but he's keeping that information to himself - for now.
The rest of us won't know for a good month-and-a-half yet which is earlier than originally planned, according to Neeld.
The Demons were initially going to make their leadership group announcement in the week leading up to their season opener against the Brisbane Lions at the MCG on March 31.
But Neeld said the decision would now be made more than a month earlier in time for their Round 1 NAB Cup clashes against the Lions and Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium on February 25.
And whether incumbent Brad Green would retain the captaincy less than a year after he took over the reins from James McDonald remains to be seen.
"We're making judgments all the time (about the make-up of the leadership group)," Neeld said before training at AAMI Park on Wednesday.
"I've got a really good idea (about) how it's going to go, we're still going to work through the process and there'll probably be one or two guys that might bob up over time (as potential leadership group candidates)."
Neeld said he was happy with the physical condition his players found themselves in when they reported back to pre-season training last week after the Christmas break, including Liam Jurrah who continues to recover from wrist surgery.
The electrifying forward looks set to take part in the NAB Cup.
"He's running out there, he still has his arm in a plaster cast, that's due to come off in three weeks and then he can start some ball work," Neeld said.
"But the good thing about that, from a coaching point of view, is we can still run him."
Despite displaying his immense skill in recent seasons, Neeld said Jurrah had some way to go before becoming the complete attacking weapon and had a clear idea of how he wanted Jurrah to play.
"I want him to still be able to compete in the air, attack the footy on the ground, kick the odd goal but I'd really like to see him with some intensity in his chasing and his tackling," Neeld said.
Neeld also confirmed promising defender Jack Grimes would feature in the pre-season competition after sustaining a navicular fracture in his foot in May which ended his 2011 season.
Meanwhile, Neeld said it was important that soon-to-be-Demon Jack Viney wasn't overloaded in his final year before being taken as a father-son selection by Melbourne in November and the club was keen to monitor the workload of the prodigious youngster who is battling osteitis pubis.
"What we would like is just to oversee his whole program so we know exactly what he's doing," Neeld said.
"What is not best for Jack is to be overloaded and (we have) to make sure we have someone like (elite performance manager) David Misson to be across how many games of footy he's going to play, how many training sessions he has to perform."
Neeld intimated Viney would have to play most of his footy with one team this year, whether that be with TAC Cup team Oakleigh Chargers or Melbourne's VFL affiliate Casey.
"We don't want Jack ... playing upwards of 30 games and playing for three or four different teams and (exposed to) three or four different game plans and all the training that goes with it," Neeld said.
"So we just want a co-ordinated approach and I think that'll be the best thing for Jack."
"It would be ideal for Jack but also for the Melbourne footy club (that) by the time the next pre-season starts that he's injury-free."