Who are the best AFL captains of the 21st century?By SEN
9 Dec 2025Narrowing the best of the lot down to a top five, SEN Breakfast duo Sam Edmund and Cameron Mooney picked their top handful of skippers since the turn of the millennium.
3 – Trent Cotchin (Richmond)“The reason I've got Cotchin at 3 is like the man I've got at 1, he drove a culture reset at his club and drove standards.
“He reinvented himself as a player first and a leader along the way, and I reckon without him, you even wonder what actually happens at Punt Rd to some degree.
“Nine years as captain, three premierships as captain, but so much done behind the scenes to rebuild a club and a culture first. I think he has a massive role in that.
“There were board coups and challenges, and he was the captain the whole way through.
“Without him, I’m not sure what happens. He’s the centrepiece.”
https://www.sen.com.au/news/2025/12/08/afl-top-5-captains-since-2000-edmund-mooney-hodge-selwood-cotchin-voss