AFL CAPTAINS were outstanding on the weekend.

Joel Selwood willed Geelong to victory against Carlton, which was skippered by a man, Chris Judd, who was, as always, courageous right to the end.

Essendon may have lost to the Sydney Swans, but Jobe Watson could not have done one thing more in defeat.

Matthew Pavlich took us back to 2005-08, a period in which he secured four of his six All Australian guernseys, with an epic performance for Fremantle against Richmond.

Nick Riewoldt kicked seven goals to take his season tally to 31. He may not be the Riewoldt of 2009, or the half-dozen or so years before that, but he's still an outstanding player and captain for St Kilda, which battered Gold Coast.

Is Riewoldt the best captain in the AFL? Ask Scott Watters, his current coach, and he'd say yes.

He's probably not, though.

In his first season in charge of a team which has played in four Grand Finals for three premierships in the past five seasons, Joel Selwood already has that status.

He had well established his credentials as a player envied by just about everyone else who plays the game, but at the halfway stage of his inaugural year as Cats leader, there is even more to envy.

He was born to be a captain. In year one as skipper, he's the benchmark.

Watson isn't too far behind him. Now in his third year as Bombers captain, he is dragging every single Essendon player along with him on this very exciting ride.

Leadership qualities can emerge from the most unusual and unlikely moments. Watson has had many such occasions.

Being axed by his first coach Kevin Sheedy, and being told at that time that the game was being played in a way which was not for him, is now driving him to extraordinary feats.

There are so many ways to rank a captain. History counts for a lot, always will. But the "now" is the most important factor.

Only those who play for and work within footy clubs know the true worth of the men who lead their clubs.

Everyone else, it must be said, is guessing. But as with everything in footy, we on the outside all have views.

The Swans' Adam Goodes is the next best skipper. When he's best on ground, or near best on ground, the Swans win. Simple as that. His detractors may argue he can, on occasions, go missing in key periods of a game, but so what? It is not often. And he has been, and remains, as explosively dominant as any player going around.

There are many better players in the AFL than West Coast's captain Darren Glass. But his ability to lead the Eagles out of three disastrous seasons has been outstanding. This is his fifth year as player boss, and it seems certain to end at least in a second consecutive preliminary final appearance.

Glass was near best-afield in the Eagles' Grand Final win in 2006. His club imploded thereafter, yet he has stood up to everything with which it was deservedly hit, and yet in relatively short time he could be the man to take it to a fourth flag this year.

Chris Judd of 2012 is not Chris Judd of 2010 or 2004 (his Brownlow years) or any of his six All Australian seasons. But he is still very, very good, and about as good a leader as one can be.

Riewoldt could be described similarly. Still very, very good, but not as good as he has been. He's leading very well, though.

Hawthorn's Luke Hodge can not get a proper crack at things this year, and Richmond's Chris Newman is loved by absolutely everyone at his club and highly respected by people at other clubs.

Jonathan Brown, who would have been No.1 on this list three seasons ago, no longer demands a high placing here because of horrific injuries and age. Crow Nathan van Berlo is like Newman. Everyone at his club loves him, those outside it highly respect him.

Gary Ablett can't do anything more personally to lift his woeful Suns. One could argue he has somehow become a better player in his time as a Sun. That in itself warrants high respect as a captain.

Collingwood's Nick Maxwell is, and continues to be, the most intriguing of AFL captains. He has skippered a premiership, one of only two of the current crop to do so (Judd at West Coast in '06 is the other), has taken his team to another Grand Final, and yet still has a lot of convincing to do.

It is actually a compliment to him that he has achieved so much. And he is such a good guy, and leader, that he will happily hand over the Magpies leadership to Scott Pendlebury, probably at the end of this year.

That is true leadership.

Rating The Captains
1. Joel Selwood
2. Jobe Watson
3. Adam Goodes (Jarrad McVeigh)
4. Darren Glass
5. Chris Judd
6. Nick Riewoldt
7. Luke Hodge
8. Gary Ablett
9. Chris Newman
10. Matthew Pavlich
11. Nathan van Berlo (OK)
12. Jonathan Brown
13. Nick Maxwell
14. Matthew Boyd
15. Dom Cassisi
16. Andrew Swallow
17. Jack Trengove (Jack Grimes)
18. Callan Ward (Phil Davis, Luke Power)

Twitter: @barrettdamian