New Melbourne captain Brad Green says he will demand high standards at the AFL club this season, but will not be relying on fiery speeches to enforce them.

The 29-year-old, the club's oldest and most-experienced player with 220 games and 294 goals to his name, could not wipe away a beaming smile as his captaincy was announced on Friday.

The reigning best-and-fairest, who will take over from retired veteran James McDonald, said while he was fiercely competitive, his leadership style would be more teacher than dictator.

"To actually rant at someone, I'm not going to be that captain," McDonald said.

"I think the way that I am, the way that these boys voted me into this role, my personality won't change for being captain.

"I set high demands on myself and hopefully the players set high demands on themselves.

"If they're not meeting those demands, certainly I'd sit them down and have a chat to them."

But Green, who debuted in 2000, said while happy to share the benefits of his experience with Melbourne's young squad, his main leadership method would be setting the example on the field and training track.

"Gone are the days where you rant and rave as a captain, I think in this day and age you need to be a leader that's a good communicator and a teacher around the place."

He said it felt "surreal" when coach Dean Bailey told him of the appointment on Thursday.

"You're excited, the emotions come out, you don't know how to feel, you want to jump up and down, you're pumped, you're excited, the way I play my football," he said.

Melbourne named three vice-captains - Aaron Davey, Brent Moloney and Jared Rivers - with youngsters Nathan Jones and Jack Grimes also in the leadership group.

Bailey said those six clearly stood out in a player vote and Green's attributes made him the obvious captaincy choice from among them, particularly his courage and constant drive to improve.

"People may not see it as much as we all see it inside, he goes about it in such a passionate way that after the game he is still stewing about all the things that he wants to get better at," Bailey said.

"He's such a hard taskmaster on himself and he will be on the rest of his teammates.

"He'll lead by example on the field, but his off-field stuff's been outstanding with his advice and his direction."

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