Collingwood has introduced three new players to its leadership group for season 2012.

Click here to watch the new leaders on CTV's Official YouTube Channel.

Travis Cloke and Dale Thomas have been included in the leadership group for the first time in their careers. They are joined by Heath Shaw who was a member of the group during the club’s premiership year in 2010.

The trio will look to ensure that the players have a strong input in the team’s direction, taking ownership of the standards they wish to uphold. They touched on the need to have a greater involvement in the management of the team from week-to-week and having a more active participation in key decisions, which is something senior coach Nathan Buckley advocated during his playing days.

Watch Nathan Buckley speak about the leadership group here.

The incoming members all spoke to collingwoodfc.com.au this morning and expressed their desire to contribute to the environment of the entire playing list.

“I’ve been here for a while now and I think I’ve got something to offer to the group,” Thomas said.

“With the mix of blokes we’ve got, I have something different to bring to the table and hopefully that’s going to help out in the leadership group.

“I think I set an example that should be followed by the younger boys who are coming through. And the spirit I bring around the place hopefully brightens everyone’s day a little bit. I think it’s a good and healthy working environment for everyone.”

Cloke believes that prolonged on field consistency has given him greater scope to improve his leadership potential.

“It was a decision I thought about over the summer. I thought that the last couple of years have been pretty consistent. I thought I had something to offer the team as a forward in the leadership group and I was pretty happy to hear that the group had voted us in.”

For Shaw, though, his situation sees him re-enter the leadership group with a determination to ensure that the players have a greater say in the way the club is run.

“I think in 2010 I went in there and I don’t think we had a lot of impact on the way the club went and the direction we wanted. I sort of felt like we just sat in meetings and didn’t do a hell of a lot,” a candid Shaw admitted.

“This year, after speaking with ‘Bucks’ (Nathan Buckley), we spoke about the role that he wants the leadership group to have and how much input they’ll have on the day-to-day sort of stuff and the running of training and drills and all that sort of thing.

That gave me a bit more confidence in that group in that we can actually have a say and that we’ll be able to help the club go forward.”

Shaw knows that his current strength is his ability to lead on the field through both action and voice, but his chequered off field record means that he has a point to prove to the rest of the team.

“Obviously on field I rate my leadership pretty highly. The off field stuff I’ve got to work on. I’ve had a good chat to ‘Bucks’ about that before I nominated and he was pretty keen to get me into there and just bring a different sort of perspective from someone who’s a little bit different.”

As captain between 1999 and 2007, Buckley led the side in 161 games and left a lasting legacy on players such as Shaw who was only in his formative years at the club.

Shaw is hopeful that his status as a leader will mean he help other players get the best out of themselves.

“When ‘Bucks’ was captain, he was always putting forward new ideas and he wanted to be involved in the day-to-day sort of stuff as much as he could. I think he’s going to give a lot of license to that leadership group so we’re looking forward to that challenge.”

“Individually, having that sort of responsibility of setting examples and being a leader at the club hopefully can help me as much as I can help players around me as well.”