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FIFA World Cup 2026 posterLuke Hodge’s top five captains in 2026 so far
SEN • June 2nd, 2026 6:05 pm
Premiership captain Luke Hodge has named his top five captains in the AFL right now.
The four-time Hawthorn premiership player (three as captain) has dissected each of the current skippers and ranked them from 1 to 5 at the halfway point of the 2026 season.
See Hodge’s top five below:
5 - James Sicily/Jai Newcombe (Hawthorn)
“I haven’t done this before, but I have put in co-captains,” Hodge told SEN's Whateley.
“The reason why I put them there is there has been a lot of stuff going on at that football club.
“We spoke at the start of the year saying they’ll probably fall down in the midfield. Because they couldn’t get Zach Merrett, they traded James Worpel, there’s probably an area in that midfield that they will probably struggle.
“All of a sudden in pre-season, Will Day goes down. You’re sitting here going, they’ve got no chance. If they can make the eight, you pat them on the back.
“Newcombe has been outstanding in that area. They’ve been able to throw a few other guys in through the middle.
“You add into the mix of the midfield dramas, Tom Barrass has been out with a hamstring for a number of weeks, Jack Gunston at times has had to miss – even though he’s had a fantastic season, he has missed two to three games with a few little niggling injuries.
“Mabior Chol has been out, and I probably underestimated how important Chol was to the team until he was missing. He shows how important he has been just by what he’s brought when he has been back.
“I’ve put them in at five because of what they are missing, and they’ve still been able to have an impact on the field as well as trying to lead this team through the injuries through the midfield and up forward.”
4 - Jordan Dawson (Adelaide)
“The mental strength that he has to go through what he has been going through…
“You can see the emotions pour out when he’s sitting in the coach’s box, you can see the emotions pour out when they played against the Brisbane Lions, when the Lions players were giving him a hug and showing their support for him.
“What he is going through, and how he has been able to handle himself on the football field – whenever he does play, he has a massive impact for that football club.
“I’ve got him at four just through the mental strength that he has been able to show.”
3 - Max Gawn (Melbourne)
“He probably would have been sitting at the end of the season going, ‘where are we?’.
“New coach, our two main midfielders who have won multiple best and fairests multiple All-Australians, up in the Brownlow for years, Norm Smith… ‘where are we going?’.
“He has been able to lead the charge through all of that, with a positive mindset, still have an impact with himself and do it in the Max Gawn way, which is just pure class the whole way through.”
2 - Alex Pearce (Fremantle)
“What we spoke about a lot, and what the coach talks about – the captain oozes the exact same.
“If you go and talk to Pearce, in a two-team town which all the supporters are up and about, you don’t know if they are winning or losing. I think that is crucial in a two-team town.
“The supporters are going absolutely ballistic. They’re on a run of games that they’ve not had in their history so far, but how he has been able to lead that side – he is calm, he will have an impact, he’s happy to do the selfless role and go and play his role but will stand up when he needs to.
“If you talk to the players at Fremantle, the impact that he has that doesn’t get pushed out of other captains.
“He is so stable down there, and that’s crucial for a team right now coming into uncharted waters, considering they are in a better position than what they’ve been in in 2013 and obviously early ’05, ’06.”
1 - Marcus Bontempelli (Western Bulldogs)
“I know he is always in the top two or three every year, but you look through the injury that he has had – he has been playing on one leg.
“How he has been able to push through that, no excuses, ‘I’m there to do a role for my team’.
“How they’ve been able to get over close games, that has got a lot to do with the leaders not going outside themselves, and being able to keep calm in situations, directing the players in that.
“Also, just his performance. Doing it on one leg, averaging 27, a goal and a half a game, he is the main reason why they’ve been able to get over in a lot of those close games.”
Listen to Hodge's captaincy assessment below:
