Wallabies coach Robbie Deans says there's no doubt Richie McCaw is the greatest modern skipper in All Blacks history.

McCaw will become the man to have led New Zealand in more rugby Tests than any other when he takes the field in Saturday's Bledisloe Cup encounter at ANZ Stadium.

And Deans, who coached McCaw during his time at the Crusaders in Super 14 rugby, says no-one comes close to the 29-year-old - not even 1990s great Sean Fitzpatrick, the man McCaw will overtake when he makes his 52nd Test appearance as All Blacks skipper.

Fitzpatrick, New Zealand's all-time most capped player with 92 Test appearances, led the All Blacks in 51 Tests from 1992-1997.

But McCaw, who has made 88 Test appearances and is aiming to become the first New Zealand player to earn 100 caps alongside fullback Mils Muliaina (88), will break Fitzpatrick's record when he leads the team out on the weekend - a fact not lost on the current Australian coach.

"He's clearly grown into a very effective leader," Deans told reporters on Friday.

"You look at his performance, his performance stats, which obviously aren't attributable solely to Richie but he's a big part of that, he's without peer."

The man himself, widely considered the game's best openside flanker, says he's just proud to have been given the chance to lead his country in so many games.

But he wasn't going to listen too closely to Deans' claims.

"That's very nice isn't it?" McCaw said when told of the comments.

"I don't know, I guess it's always hard when you compare people but just to be mentioned in the same sort of breath as him (Fitzpatrick) is pretty awesome in itself.

"When you captain the team, captain's only do as good when you've got a good team around you and that's what I've been doing over the years, I've been lucky to have a good team to play with.

"At the moment especially we've got some pretty good senior players around."

Personal accolades aside, McCaw says he's focused on nothing more than ensuring his team finishes their successful Tri-Nations campaign on Saturday with their 100 per cent record intact.

"I'd be really happy to do that," he said when asked about leading the team unbeaten through the tournament.

"Now we're within a chance of doing that, it'd be disappointing to let that opportunity slip.

"But it's not going to be easy, I certainly believe it's going to be a big challenge tomorrow night."

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