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]
Note: All team captains prior to 1902, and occasionally until 1922, also acted as the team's coach.
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. Founded in 1892 in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, the club played in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) before joining seven other teams in 1896 to form the breakaway Victorian Football League (VFL), known today as the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally based at Victoria Park, Collingwood now plays home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and has its headquarters and training facilities at Olympic Park Oval and the AIA Centre.
Ronald Dale Barassi was an Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the greatest and most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player to be inaugurated into the Australian Football Hall of Fame as a "Legend", and he is one of four Australian rules footballers to be elevated to the same status in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria, and plays its home games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Leigh Raymond Matthews is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He played for Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached Collingwood and the Brisbane Lions in the VFL and renamed Australian Football League (AFL).
James Francis "Jock" McHale was an Australian rules football player and coach for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League in a marathon career that extended from 1903 to 1949. He is the most successful VFL/AFL coach of all time, having lead Collingwood to a record eight premierships.
Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards was an Australian rules footballer who played 250 games for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1941 and 1955. He captained the team from 1952 to 1955, including a premiership win in 1953. He later became a hotel manager and a highly prominent sports journalist in print, radio and television for more than 50 years, and he was known for his wit and vivacity.
Norman Walter Smith was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After more than 200 games as a player with Melbourne and Fitzroy, Smith began a twenty-year coaching career, including a fifteen-year stint at Melbourne.
David Alexander Parkin is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL).
The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. Prior to 1990 it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league was then known as the Victorian Football League, and both were renamed due to the national expansion of the competition. Played at the end of the finals series, the game has been held annually since 1898, except in 1924. It is traditionally staged on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As the premier match of the AFL season, it attracts one of the largest audiences in Australian sport, regularly attracting a crowd of more than 100,000 and a television audience of millions.
John Herbert Todd was an Australian rules footballer who played for the South Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian National Football League (WANFL). He also coached with success at East Fremantle, South Fremantle, Swan Districts, West Coast, and Western Australia. The only coach that comes close to John Todd in games coached is Jock McHale, who coached Collingwood. Mick Malthouse later broke McHale’s coaching record for games coached, but McHale still has won the most VFL/AFL premierships (8). Malthouse won 3 Premierships. A State Memorial service was held on 21 August 2024 for John Todd.
Christopher Michael Scott is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League (AFL) best known for being a dual premiership player with the Brisbane Lions and a dual premiership coach at Geelong in 2011 and 2022.
The 1965 VFL season was the 69th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 17 April until 25 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
The 1941 VFL season was the 45th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 26 April until 27 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
The 1970 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on 26 September 1970. It was the 73rd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1970 VFL season. The match was won by Carlton who came back from a 44 point deficit at halftime to win by a margin of 10 points, marking that club's 10th premiership victory.
Luke Beveridge is an Australian rules football coach and former player who played for Melbourne, Footscray and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1990s. He is senior coach of the Western Bulldogs.
The 1980 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Richmond Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 1980. It was the 84th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1980 VFL season. The match, attended by 113,461 spectators, was won by Richmond by a margin of 81 points, marking that club's 10th VFL/AFL premiership victory, and they would not win the premiership again until 2017.
The 1930 VFL grand final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and Geelong Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 11 October 1930. It was the 32nd annual grand ginal of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1930 VFL season. The match, attended by 45,022 spectators, was won by Collingwood by a margin of 30 points. It was the club's ninth premiership victory and fourth in succession. As of 2023, Collingwood is the only team in VFL/AFL history to win four consecutive premiersips.
The 2010 AFL Grand Final was a series of two Australian rules football matches between the Collingwood Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club. They are considered the 114th and 115th grand finals of the Australian Football League ,Note 1 and were staged to determine the premiers for the 2010 AFL season. The premiership is usually decided by a single match; however, as the first grand final ended in a draw, a grand final replay was played the following week and was won by Collingwood.
The 2024 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match that was contested between the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Lions at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, 28 September 2024. It was the 129th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (AFL), staged to determine the premiers of the 2024 AFL season. The match was attended by 100,013 spectators, a record for an AFL match between two non-Victorian teams. Brisbane won by a margin of 60 points, marking the club's fourth AFL premiership. Will Ashcroft of the Lions was awarded the Norm Smith Medal as the best player on the ground.