Penrith Panthers coach Ivan Cleary says James Tamou has "risen above" the other five members of his side's leadership group to be named captain for the rest of 2019.
The Panthers confirmed via social media on Tuesday that Tamou would be the sole captain from this weekend's clash with the Sharks onwards.
For the first five rounds of the new season, Tamou had been in a leadership group alongside James Maloney, Isaah Yeo, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Josh Mansour and Nathan Cleary.
After stumbling to a 2-3 record, including a loss to the previously winless Titans on Friday, the decision was made to promote one leader to the captaincy.
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Tamou, who joined the Panthers in 2017, got the nod.
"James has come through and grown in that group, and he's effectively risen above and selected himself," Cleary said on Wednesday morning.
"He's well respected, he's consistent and a family man and respected by everyone. I think that role will help him personally.
"He's humble, that's the way he is. The rest of the group is behind him."
Tamou takes over the captaincy from struggling half Maloney, who took on the role in the back end of last year once Peter Wallace was forced to retire.
Cleary raised eyebrows earlier in the year when he announced a six-man leadership group, and revealed that it wasn't necessarily the plan to promote one player to captain.
"That wasn't the plan. Effectively it was an evolution thing," he said.
OFFICIAL. Following a period of consideration, James Tamou has emerged from the club's six-man leadership group to be appointed Panthers captain for 2019. Congrats Jimmy T 👏🏽👌🏽#pantherpride 🐾 pic.twitter.com/mjIeYk0vL7
— Penrith Panthers (@PenrithPanthers) April 16, 2019
"It got to a point where James has come through that.
"It's good for the team. He's the man to lead us with the support of that group.
"It's probably the best model. You've gotta find a model with what you've got. That's why we've started the group.
"I just felt whether it's five weeks or six weeks, at this week having seen how that group operated, this is the way forward."
After missing a whopping 67 tackles in last weekend's 30-24, Cleary says his team is still learning how to play together.
"Pretty disappointed in our defence last week," he said.
"It's actually been going ok. We're still trying to find our feet. This team's still learning how to be consistent week to week.
"We're still working away at that.
"Defensively last week we weren't where we needed to be. It's going to have to improve."
