COACH Neil Craig says co-captains Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove will become elite skippers in the future.

Speaking at AAMI Park on Wednesday, Craig said the duo had the characteristics to become outstanding leaders in the long term.

“Are they elite leaders at the moment? Of course they’re not. How could they be? But they will be. Because they’ve got the characteristics of the best leaders that I know of,” he said.

“They are going through a situation at the moment - I can guarantee you that there are other captains in the AFL who would have no idea – no idea what skill set these guys are developing.

“So it’s a great growth period.”

Craig said Grimes and Trengove had experienced scenarios few other captains in the AFL had, although he compared them to what the Greater Western Sydney and Gold Coast captains had been through.

“I’m talking about in terms of resilience and handling adversity – constant resilience and adversity,” he said.

“I can talk to these guys about it and I can get them to read about it, but they are actually living it.

“There is no better way to develop those skills, unless you live it.”