Sheffield Steelers' new captain Robert Dowd discusses the forthcoming 2023-24 Elite League season
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00:00 It's a special feeling obviously, following on from a great captain of John Boy, obviously
00:12 it's some tough shoes to fill, but it was very exciting obviously for me and my family,
00:17 we call Sheffield home now, so to be awarded the C, it was really nice and special.
00:23 What kind of qualities do you associate with having the C, what kind of captain do you
00:27 hope to be, or aspire to be?
00:29 Yeah, I aspire to be a good leader, I'm not one that's going to shout guys down and swear
00:36 at guys, people see I play with passion and frustration at times, but that's always inward,
00:43 it's never pointed at other guys, I'd like to think I would lead by example, I put everything
00:48 out there most nights and I just want to be one of those leaders where guys will follow
00:53 suit and just work hard.
00:54 When you realised that Jono was going to move on and retire, eventually he's gone to your
01:00 near neighbours over the way there, was it something that entered your mind that you
01:05 would like to follow in his footsteps?
01:07 Yeah, me and Foxy had spoke about it in the past, spoke about it a few times, so I knew
01:14 it was possibly on the cards, but you don't want to assume obviously, so when I was eventually
01:19 told after training camp it was a very special feeling.
01:24 Pre-season, always a funny time, lots of new faces coming in, no change this summer, obviously
01:30 new guys here, but obviously some familiar ones as well, how's it gone generally?
01:33 Played four games, four tough games, which is what you need though isn't it?
01:36 100% obviously, I think our pre-season has been very tough, we've been on the ice a lot,
01:42 but there's a lot of new guys, learning new systems, and to put the performances out we
01:46 did I thought was very, very good and very promising for the season ahead.
01:51 Nottingham obviously, I thought we were dominant in that Saturday game and we looked a bit
01:56 leggy in that second game, which was obviously to be expected with the amount of times we
01:59 were on the ice that week, and then to follow it up with two wins against a very, very good
02:03 Cardiff side was very good, very, very promising.
02:06 How do you see this current six early days, are you impressed with what Aaron has added
02:11 to the roster for this season?
02:14 Absolutely, very, very impressed, obviously a very tough job to be in his shoes and obviously
02:19 have to make those decisions to let guys go and bring guys in, but so far I think we look
02:24 so deep offensively, I think we've got so many offensive weapons, but on the other hand
02:28 defensively as well, I think we're big, strong and solid, I do think we've got some very
02:33 good upgrades compared to last year, I think we're a better outfit.
02:36 And obviously it's been a while, you won't need me to remind you of that, since Steeles
02:40 won the league, I think we're talking about six years or so now, the last sort of trophy
02:44 obviously won was the Challenge Cup down in Cardiff, I know you were injured at the time,
02:48 now you have the sea, not just because you're upset, but now you have it, how much would
02:51 it mean for you to bring that first bit of silverware in a few years back to this arena?
02:57 Obviously it would be very special, obviously first year we're in a sea to lift a trophy,
03:01 a two would be absolutely fantastic, but bearing that in mind I think we've got to just concentrate
03:07 on one game at a time and build towards that, but yeah, like you said, that would be a fairy
03:12 tale.
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