I believe there a natural leaders on this team. I have a lot of experience with teams and leadership in corporate settings. If there are natural leaders (and I think there are), there are two essential components required for them to influence the team: (1) they must be high performers (hard working, demonstrating excellence at all times and publicly holding themselves accountable when they fall short), and (2) they must be empowered and backed by management. Management can undermine that kind of leadership pretty easily if they aren't careful. For example, they could chose a guy for captain with such low character that he chokes out his girlfriend.