Jamie McGrath insists Hibernian have enough leaders in the dressing room to help the club climb out of trouble, and he can see the logic behind new head coach Marink Reedijk's decision to hand the captaincy to Felix Passlack.
Hibs sit bottom of the Scottish Premiership table and welcome Celtic to Easter Road in Sunday's early kick-off. Reedijk has lost his first two games in charge, and the armband has become a talking point after the Dutchman chose wing-back Passlack as his on-pitch skipper, with Martin Boyle previously taking on the role while club captain Joe Newell has mostly been used from the bench.
McGrath backs Passlack captaincy call
McGrath, who can understand Reedijk's thinking, said: "Felix came in straight away last January and is loved by all the boys. He's a top fella and a top, top man. He's very approachable – the heartbeat of the changing room, he's always up for the crack.
"It looks weird seeing him with the armband but it's just something that has been chosen. Don't get me wrong, there's no bad eggs in the changing room. Everybody's very together in there.
"Whether it's Felix wearing it, or Joe wearing it the next day, or Boyle wearing it the day after, it's just one of those things. We all get behind everybody."
Boyle's role remains key
The lack of an armband will not dampen Boyle's mood, and McGrath is adamant the forward will continue to play a role behind the scenes. Hibs have taken just one point from a possible 15, with David Gray losing his job during that run, leaving confidence fragile.
McGrath added: "Boyle's the best man to put an arm around someone or just lighten the mood at any given time. Boyle's always there, he's always positive, always in good spirits. It's important to have that in the changing room too.
"He's the master at deflecting pressure in key times. He's a massive part of the changing room. We have a lot of different characters in the changing room who bring different stuff.
"We all have to take more responsibility in that aspect, telling people if it's not good enough on the pitch. Little basics, we have to get the basics right and hopefully we can do that against Celtic."
McGrath's own return
At 30, McGrath finds himself more inclined to offer encouragement and direction to team-mates. He added: "It's something I'm always trying to improve as I'm not a natural shouter.
"I'm trying to lead by running hard and working hard and doing it that way. But of course, the older you get, the more experience you build. It's dawned on me now that I'm no longer the young buck, and I'm going to have to try and bring that experience to help the younger boys as much as I can."
McGrath has been hampered by a recent calf injury but returned as a substitute in last weekend's 2-1 defeat to Falkirk. After missing the start of Reedijk's reign, he is getting to understand what is expected from him as the head coach implements a new front-foot approach.
He added: "I've had a good few weeks training now. I'm obviously trying to get up to speed as quickly as I can. I have completed most sessions so far since I've been back and I'm learning quickly on the job.
"I missed the camp in Spain so I'm just doing a bit of catch-up but looking forward to getting back fit now. I got minutes last week and it felt good so hopefully I can build on that now this weekend and for the season going ahead.
"We're obviously still learning and we're working very hard on the training ground. It's a different style and with that it takes a lot of changes and adaptations.
"So it's refreshing. There's a good atmosphere around the place now. Although we wanted to show it at the weekends and obviously we wanted to get results as quickly as possible."
