New Richmond skipper Chris Newman might currently hold the unwanted record of having played the most AFL games without appearing in a finals match but he expects that statistic to change in his first year in charge of the Tigers in 2009.

The courageous defender has played 133 games since making his debut in 2002 - a year after the Tigers last played in the finals - but takes over at Punt Road at an exciting time after last year's rise up the ladder from 16th to ninth.

And after officially taking over on Wednesday - just a week after veteran midfielder Kane Johnson stepped down from the job after four years in charge - the 26-year-old made it clear that his top priority as the club's new skipper is leading the Tigers back into the September action.

"We finished ninth last year and we finished off on a really high note (with six wins in the last eight games) and while you don't want to make any bold statements this early in the year I think not playing finals next year would be a step down."

It's a sign of the times at Punt Road that the players that have carried the club for so long in veterans Johnson, Matthew Richardson, Joel Bowden, Nathan Brown and Troy Simmonds will all be allowed to concentrate solely on their football next year with Newman to be assisted by his 23-year-old deputy Nathan Foley while 21-year-old reigning best and fairest winner Brett Deledio and much-improved defender in 24-year-old Kelvin Moore have been promoted into the leadership group.

Newman admits it is an exciting time to be taking over with Richmond finally possessing both a core group of experienced older players and an exciting group of youngsters.

"It's a really good time to take over because they (the older players) are staying on and you can always go back to those guys and ask them questions and we have the young blokes coming through so it's an exciting time to be around the place."

"The club is on the rise so to take over at that time is a huge responsibility but one I can fill, along with the rest of the leadership group."

The low-profile but highly-respected Newman, who amazingly is extremely close to Carlton's extroverted spearhead Brendan Fevola, has done it the hard way in being appointed the Tigers' 39th captain.

Not only has he already endured seven fruitless seasons at Punt Road and indeed his first nine matches with the club in 2002 all resulted in defeats but he has also had to fight back from a career threatening broken leg in 2006.

Newman admits that fateful day at the MCG against Collingwood crossed his mind when told of his appointment.

"I thought about that day and I would never have imagined then that this could happen," he said.

"If someone had said at the start of my career eight years ago that I would be captaining the Richmond Football Club I would have laughed so it's a huge step and a role I am not taking lightly."

Richmond coach Terry Wallace said Newman was the unanimous choice of the players, the coaches, the management team and the board to take over as captain from Johnson which was why the club was able to act so quickly in naming a new skipper.

"We think