Goddard, 30, was on Friday appointed Bombers captain for this season, after being widely viewed as the obvious choice to lead the Dons in the absence of skipper Jobe Watson and the 11 other current Essendon players suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport earlier this month.

Grant Thomas coached Goddard at St Kilda between 2003 and 2006. While Thomas had his own unconventional views on leadership, implementing a yearly rotation system during his five full seasons at the helm of the Saints, he believed Goddard's "confrontational" and "uncompromising" captaincy style would serve the Bombers well during what would be an unprecedented season of football for the club.

"Well, you know my philosophy on captaincy. Given that Brendon's leadership qualities are exemplary, I don't think he necessarily needs the title," Thomas said.

"Having said that, it's a situation of potential doom and gloom and, given there's an almighty fight in front of Essendon for seemingly the next 12 months and beyond, I think it's entirely appropriate that the most experienced leader, the person that's most equipped to support and assist his teammates, along with being a very capable media performer, I think it's appropriate that we go away from 'Thommo's skipper theory' and go and appoint Brendon.

Despite being a relatively strong performer across his three seasons at Essendon, Goddard has been criticised at times for his on-field manner, and tendency to gesticulate passionately.

The 2013 Crichton medallist drew criticism from retired teammate Paul Chapman, who labelled Goddard "self-centred" in a book released late last year. Goddard conceded in November he had "clashed" with Carlisle, who is now at St Kilda, and the veteran unapologetically said he could "be pretty demanding at times".

While agreeing that Goddard had at times overstepped the mark, Thomas was adamant it was better to be too tough than not tough enough. "I would much prefer a player doing that than succumbing and not addressing the confrontational issues that need to be addressed. If you had a team full of Brendon Goddards, you'd be a lot better off than if you had a team full of anti-confrontationalists.

"He's uncompromised, is probably the best way to explain it. Most people in team sports, especially because of their age, want to be liked. Respect is an outcome that may come later, but most leaders as I've experienced in the AFL – including head office – tend to focus very heavily on being liked, not necessarily doing the confrontational and the difficult tasks of driving breakthrough performance, which is what leadership is about."

Thomas argued that more leaders like Goddard were required to prevent incidents such as the one for which Carlisle was fined and suspended after he posted a video of himself purporting to snort a white powder on Snapchat. "It was widely publicised that Carlisle didn't like Brendon's M.O. and there's probably a reason for that, which was highlighted by Carlisle's behaviour, the way he spoke about Essendon when he was there, and his subsequent social media escapades."

Thomas added that Goddard was likely to seek advice from St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt – to whom he was once seen as a likely successor – as well as former Bombers coach James Hird, both of whom Thomas said Goddard respected highly.