Gatland revealed that there were half a dozen players in contention for the captaincy with England's Dylan Hartley, Ireland's Rory Best, Wales' Alun Wyn Jones and Greig Laidlaw of Scotland among those.

"I would take those four captains and make that the leadership group," Jones said.

"Then after the warm-up games, whoever was the leading player I would make captain for the first Test," said the Australian, speaking at the Advertising Week Europe business event in London.

"You look at the last Lions tour and Sam Warburton captained the first two and Alun Wyn Jones captained the third, so I think you can separate it.

"It would be different but I would reckon you would get a great result, with those four captains running the team for you and making sure they set the standards on and off the field."

Gatland earlier stated his Lions captain will not be guaranteed a starting place in the Test team.

Wales forward Sam Warburton and England back Owen Farrell have been touted on the grounds that they appear to be two players certain of a first-choice role in the XV, but Gatland insists his chosen lieutenant is not certain to play.

"I think the captaincy is a great honour, but whoever the captain is going to be there'll be no guarantee he plays in the Tests," he told BBC Radio Five Live's Sportsweek programme on Sunday.

"His form has to be good enough. I think whoever that person is has to rise to that, the message to that person is it's a great honour to captain the Lions but your form has to be good enough to be selected for the Tests."

Gatland is due to name his squad on April 19.