Talk great AFL captains and you might come up with Footscray’s Ted Whitten, captain of the AFL Team of the Century or Carlton Team of the Century captain Stephen Kernahahn. Or Essendon equivalent Dick Reynolds, Melbourne’s Ron Barassi, Richmond’s Jack Dyer, the Swans’ Bob Skilton, North Melbourne’s Wayne Carey or St.Kilda’s Darrel Baldock.

Or Kevin Murray, captain of the Fitzroy Team of the Century and Fitzroy’s longest-serving captain at 159 games, ahead of Paul Roos (122), Allan Ruthven (110) and Fred Hughson (103).

But there is another name that has to be in the conversation .. Brisbane’s Michael Voss.

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Statistics alone make it a must. He is one of only seven players to have captained three or more premiership teams, and one of nine to captain his side in four or more grand finals.

Also, he is one of just five players in AFL history to have captained their club more than 200 times.

It was Round 11 2006 when Voss became the fourth 200-game AFL captain, following Reynolds at Essendon in 1949, Whitten at Footscray (now Western Bulldogs) in 1969 and Kernahan at Carlton in 1996. And preceding St.Kilda’s Nick Riewoldt in 2016.

The Lions, 10^th on the ladder at 4-6 under coach Leigh Matthews, hosted 2^nd-placed Adelaide, who headed to the Gabba under coach Neil Craig at 8-2.

It was something of a full circle for the inspirational Lions skipper – his first game as captain was also against Adelaide at Football Park in Adelaide in Round 1 1997.

It looked promising early when the home side led by 17 points at quarter-time and seven points at halftime, but it wasn’t the celebration it might have been. The Lions kicked 1-3 to 4-6 in the third quarter and went down 8-12 (60) to 10-15 (75).

Jason Akermanis picked up 29 possessions and kicked three goals, including his 300^th, to earn three Brownlow Medal votes in a losing side, while Adelaide’s Nathan Bassett received two votes and Brisbane’s Luke Power one vote.

It was a day former Western Magpies junior turned Lions rookie and now AFL player manager Marty Pask will remember well – he played the first of his eight AFL games.

Cameron Wood played his second game for the Lions and Joel Patfull his fourth in a side that included 10 of Voss’ premiership players from the 2001-02-03 golden era on hand to help celebrate the milestone – Akermanis, Simon Black, Daniel Bradshaw, Robert Copeland, Beau McDonald, Ash McGrath, Mal Michael, Tim Notting, Power and Brad Scott.

Voss, pushing 31 when he reached this celebrated his double-century milestone, had inherited the captaincy nine and a half years earlier as a 21-year-old 79-game Brownlow Medallist.

He had shared the Brownlow with Essendon’s James Hird in 1996 and been Brisbane Bears club champion in 1995-96 before the historic merger with Fitzroy formed the Brisbane Lions.

While there was no questioning the Voss leadership coach John Northey decided the champion midfielder was too young to carry such a big load on his own after the retirement of 125-game Bears skipper Roger Merrett.

So, ahead of his time, Northey opted for joint captains. He went with Voss and Alastair Lynch, the boom recruit from Fitzroy in 1994 who, after missing most of the 1995 season due to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, had returned to regular football in 1996.

Lynch was seven years older than Voss and Northey reasoned it was the perfect mix. They shared the role on and off the field. And it worked a treat.

The well-matched duo were the third and fourth Brisbane captains behind Mark Mickan, the inaugural Bears skipper from 1987-89, and Merrett, who moved from Essendon to Brisbane in 1988 and took over the captaincy in 1990.

Voss and Lynch shared the role under Northey for a season and a half, and for half a season under caretaker coach Merrett, and were reappointed by Matthews when he took charge in 1999.

For two years the shared role continued under Matthews before Lynch, having turned 32, stood down from the role at the end of 2000. Voss did it solo until his retirement  at the end of 2006.

In a rare option adopted by coach Matthews in the post-Voss era, Jonathan Brown, Simon Black, Chris Johnson, Nigel Lappin and Luke Power shared the captaincy in 2007, and Brown, Black, Lappin and Power did likewise in 2008.

Brown, second on the Brisbane captaincy list at 127, was a solo captain from 2009-13 before Jed Adcock took charge mid-season in 2013 when Brown was injured. Adcock did the job outright in 2014.

Tom Rockliff captained the club in 2015-16, Dayne Beams was solo captain in 2017 and began the 2018 season in that role until he stepped aside for personal reasons and was replaced by current skipper Dayne Zorko.

Voss had been the fifth-youngest player appointed captain of an AFL club behind Fitzroy triple Brownlow Medallist Haydn Bunton and three North Melbourne captains - David Dench, Kevin Dynon and Wayne Carey.

They were all surpassed in 2012 when Melbourne’s Jack Trengove, now in his second season at Port Adelaide after being de-listed by Melbourne in 2017, shared the Melbourne captaincy with Jack Grimes under short-lived coach Mark Neeld.

Voss’ place on captaincy honour boards is unquestioned.

His 2001-02-03 premiership hat-trick as skipper is matched by Luke Hodge at Hawthorn in 2013-14-15, John Nicholls at Carlton in 1968-70-72 and Melbourne’s Allan La Fontaine 1939-40-41.

The three players who captained four premiership sides are Collingwood’s Syd Coventry in 1927-28-29-30, Essendon’s Dick Reynolds in 1942-46-49-50 and Hawthorn’s Michael Tuck in 1986-88-89-91.

Reynolds, captain-coach at Essendon from 1940-50 after being captain in 1939, holds the AFL record for most grand finals as captain at nine. Nicholls and Tuck each skippered five grand final teams, and Coventry, Hodge, Voss, South Melbourne’s Jack Bisset, Richmond’s Perc Bentley and Collingwood’s Harry Collier four grand finals.

Voss won the AFL Players Association’ Best Captain award four years in a row from 2001-04 and is the only four-time winner of the award, which was presented spasmodically from 1986-97 and has been annual since 1997.  Carey is a three-time winner, and Kernahan a two-time winner with Adelaide’s Riccuito and Taylor Walker.

The longest serving captain at each club, plus anyone at 150 game or more, are:-