VIDEO Super League 2016 - Leeds Rhinos: McGuire excited to be leading man at Rhinos

Dave Craven: Congrats on the captaincy, Danny. What does it mean to be leading your hometown club?

Danny McGuire: It’s a huge honour. I’m a proud Leeds lad and have been at the club 20 years now. Every time I pull on that jersey, whether as captain or not, it’s a really proud moment so to lead the boys out this year is really special.

DC: You’re quite vocal as a half-back anyway so will things change much?

DM: Not really. Half-back is almost the captain without really realising it, to be honest – you’re bossing the team about, you’re in charge of what goes on on the pitch – so I won’t change too much. I’m just going to go about my business the same way, hopefully do my bit for the team while realising I’ve got that added responsibility as captain.

DC: Give us an insight in to how it works, who says what?

DM: I won’t try and overcomplicate things. I feel I’m pretty vocal within the team anyway and say what I feel needs to be said. I’m not just going to say things for the sake of it.

Mac (Brian McDermott) will speak and we have a lot of experienced players who will help me along the way as well so I don’t think there’ll be anything too Churchillian!

DC: Any of Kev’s speeches stand-out over the years?

DM: Kev was an unbelievable captain but quite methodical in his approach; he did not shout too much. Our personalities are probably a little bit different; I’m a bit more fiery than Kev and he’s more controlled and when he speaks everyone listens.

He’s probably given hundreds of, not inspirational as such, but speeches with really positive things all the time. It was always the right thing that came out of Kev’s mouth and that’s something I’ll try take from him; the calm, collected air that he brought.

Sometimes I can get a little carried away so I might have to reign that in a bit.

DC: Great to see Liam Sutcliffe back in action for the kick-off. Does he remind you of a younger Danny McGuire?

DM: Definitely. I think Sutty’s a great talent and he showed at the start of last year what an invaluable player he is to us.

I know he’s happy to have got that first game out of the way against Bradford; he felt confident and obviously coming back from that sort of knee injury – I’ve done it myself – I know how tough it is to do. It’s mentally more challenging than anything. It’s great he’s back and he will be a real positive for the team this year.

DC: The new season is upon us. What’s the mood like in this post-Kev, Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai era?

DM: There’s a great buzz around the team. It’s exciting. In all my time here this is probably the best mix we’ve had of youth and experience. We’ve lost JP, Kev and Kylie and you can’t replace that quality and experience but last year’s gone now. It’s important we just focus and we want to improve on last year – which was brilliant – and get better still. Everyone will want to knock us off our perch a bit so the challenge is even bigger this time around.

DC: Warrington first-up...?

DM: I think it will be a tough game. I really respect Warrington; they’re a good team and really well coached by Tony while obviously they will have been disappointed with how everything fizzled out for them last year. I imagine they’ll be pretty charged up and ready to play at Headingley. We’ll have to be ready to meet that.

DC: Tony has given Ryan Bailey a chance, too, after a difficult year since leaving Leeds. Can he get him back to his best?

DM: I hope so. He’s a good friend of mine is Bails. We had a lot of good times together here. He has struggled a bit since he left Leeds but hopefully now he can get back to playing the rugby we all know he’s capable of. I wish him all the best – apart from next Thursday!

DC: After the Grand Final win you said it’d be strange not being sat next to Kev – but you might pop down the corridor to see him at Carnegie! Have you done that yet?

DM: We spoke the other day and met up for a coffee. Kev also sent me a message when we were out in America and the captaincy got announced. He’s a good mate and although he was always alongside me as a team-mate he’s a pal more than anything. I’m sure he’ll be there with a bit of advice. At some point this year it will get tough. Last year we won the treble but we had a few rocky moments along the way and I’m sure I’ll need some advice at some point.