List of VFL/AFL premiership captains and coaches explained

This is a list of captains and coaches of Australian Football League premiership teams. Jock McHale has coached the most premierships, with eight in total. Syd Coventry, Dick Reynolds and Michael Tuck are the most successful captains, with four premierships each.

The coach of the premiership winning team currently receives the Jock McHale Medal, named in McHale's honour. The medal was first awarded in 2001, and Jock McHale Medals were retrospectively awarded to all premiership-winning coaches from 1950 onwards, which was the first season following McHale's retirement from coaching.

The captain or co-captains of the premiership winning team currently receive the Ron Barassi Medal, named in Barassi's honour. The medal was first awareded in 2024 and has not been retrospectively awarded.^[1]

List

Year	Premiers	Captain	data-sort-type="text"	Coach
			(caretaker Bob Rush)
	Hawthorn
2023

Note: All team captains prior to 1902, and occasionally until 1922, also acted as the team's coach.

Footnotes

• 1: Jock McHale had coached Collingwood throughout that year and into the week of the grand final, but was absent on the day of the grand final, having fallen ill with influenza. Club treasurer Bob Rush performed the matchday coaching duties in his place. For many years, Rush was credited with having coached the game, but after a decision in 2014 by the AFL's historians, McHale was credited as Collingwood's sole coach in the game for the purposes of coaching statistics.^[2]

Further reading

• Book: Lovett, Michael. AFL 2004 - The Official Statistical History Of The AFL. AFL Publishing. 2004. 0-9580300-5-7.

See also

• List of AFL Women's premiership captains and coaches
• List of NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL premiership captains and coaches

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ron Barassi Medal to be Awarded on Grand Final Day. 2 September 2024. 2 September 2024. Australian Football League. 2 September 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240902003737/https://www.afl.com.au/news/1210945/ron-barassi-medal-to-be-awarded-on-grand-final-day. live.
2. News: The Australian. No fudge: AFL insists Mick Malthouse celebration will be by the numbers. Courtney Walsh. 31 October 2014. 25 April 2015. Melbourne, VIC.