And so the Demons went for co-captains yesterday - and two of the youngest in the sport's history.

Jack Trengove, 20, and Jack Grimes, 22, will lead the league's oldest team when their season begins against the Brisbane Lions on March 31.

The Kangaroos' new skipper will be midfield star Andrew Swallow, who is not much older at 24.

Grimes and Trengove have played just 69 games between them - Grimes has lined up in 32 matches and Trengove has appeared in 37.

Swallow will replace veteran Brent Harvey, captain for the past three seasons, but the 33-year-old will remain in the leadership group at North and act as a mentor.

North named Jack Ziebell, 21 later this month, as vice-captain alongside Drew Petrie.

Melbourne coach Mark Neeld said that Trengove and Grimes were the only two left standing when the decision to usher in a new young generation of leaders was made.

``When I first started four months ago I was absolutely certain I only wanted one captain,'' Neeld said.

``After four months I arrived that we needed two - I couldn't split them and their teammates couldn't split them.

``They both have outstanding leadership qualities.''

Trengove said it was a great privilege to ``take this opportunity and try and do something with it''.

``I've got full confidence in the whole group that they're going to be doing everything possible to get this club back to where it needs to be,'' he said.

Trengove said the key plank of his leadership with Grimes would be to ``care for your teammates''.

Neeld said that telling Brad Green he would no longer be captain or in the leadership group was tough.

``That's the hardest thing I've had to do so far, to sit down with a player who has nearly played 250 games and is a captain of an AFL club, and tell him he wasn't going to be captain,'' Neeld said.

North coach Brad Scott said the Kangaroos had several players who could have filled the captaincy role but Swallow had been a standout.