Former Collingwood star Heritier Lumumba has made an immediate impact at Melbourne, joining their leadership group for the upcoming AFL season.

Lumumba is part of a six-man group that will have Nathan Jones as the skipper.

It will be the first time since Brad Green led the Demons in 2011 that they have not had co-captains.

Jack Grimes, who stepped down from the captaincy after last season, remains in the leadership group.

Lumumba is in his first year at Melbourne after a successful but occasionally rocky spell at Collingwood.

“It shows what high standards he has,” coach Paul Roos said.

“There are a lot of rumours, a lot of talk about Heritier, which surprised me.

“The players would agree, we’ve seen nothing but high standards, nothing but a guy who’s been compliant and wants to drive the group.

“For him to be named in such a short space of time, it gives you an idea of how highly regarded he is already by the guys at Melbourne.”

Jones became co-captain last season and was the obvious choice to lead the team again.

“We’ll continue to raise the bar and raise the standards as leaders as much as we can,” the star midfielder said.

“I’m really confident in the current list of players we’ve got and the direction the footy club has taken, that we’ll be back to being a great footy club again.”

Roos said he had an open mind whether the Demons should continue with co-captains.

“I’m never 100 per cent sold … one captain, two captains, three captains – I’ve seen them work in a lot of different formats,” he said.

“We were really comfortable, as the players were and as the leadership group was, to go with one captain.”

Lynden Dunn was rewarded for improved form with the vice-captaincy, while Daniel Cross and Chris Dawes are the other members of the leadership group.

“For him to be named vice-captain is a very, very good effort,” Roos said.

Lumumba and Dawes were members of Collingwood’s 2010 premiership team, while Cross played in preliminary finals at the Western Bulldogs.

Jones and Dunn have endured Melbourne’s ongoing lean period, with the club finishing second-bottom last year despite definite improvement.

“There’s a really good mix of guys who understand how difficult it’s been, but also some guys who’ve had some real success, who can continue to raise standards around here also,” Roos said.