Jarryn Geary (born 23 June 1988) is a retired

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Geary was St Kilda captain from 2017 to 2020 and co-captain in 2021.

Junior career

Geary played junior football with the

Eaglehawk Football Club The Eaglehawk Football Netball Club is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the town of Eaglehawk, Victoria and have competed in every BFL season since the league began in 1880, with the exception of 1904. Eaglehawk teams cur ...

, which led to his selection to play in the state-wide junior competition, the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

, for the

Bendigo Pioneers The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team in the statewide Victorian under-18s league, the Talent League. History The Bendigo Pioneers is an Australian rules football team playing in Talent League since 1993 based in Bendigo, Vic ...

. Despite winning Bendigo's under-18s' best and fairest player award in 2006, he was overlooked in the AFL national draft. Generally seen as a running half-back or midfield player, Geary was selected by St Kilda with pick 58 in the 2006 AFL Rookie Draft, a busy rookie draft for the Saints which also saw Clinton Jones, Luke van Rheenen, Robert Eddy, James Wall and

Jayden Attard Jayden Attard (born 27 February 1986) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Brisbane Lions and the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2005 to 2008. Of Maltese descent, Attard w ...

selected. Geary was chosen with the sixth last pick overall.

AFL career

2007–2008: debut

At the end of the 2007 season, Geary was elevated onto St Kilda's primary list for 2008. His career started positively, playing in the pre-season

2008 NAB Cup The 2008 NAB Cup was the Australian Football League pre-season competition played in its entirety before the Australian Football League's 2008 season began. It culminated with the Grand Final played on 8 March 2008 at AAMI Stadium in which St ...

competition which St Kilda won in the final against Adelaide. In Round 1, 2008, Geary made his home and away season debut for the Saints, gathering 21 possessions as one of the best-on-ground players against the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

. He played a total of 10 games in 2008, a season which ended at the Preliminary Final stage for the Saints. Geary was nominated for the AFL Rookie of the Year award, the Rising Star, for his 19-possession game against Essendon in Round 8.

2009–2010

Geary played in 15 of St Kilda's 22 matches in the 2009 home and away rounds, with a 100% record of 15 wins, averaging 16.9 disposals per game. He played the first 14 games in a row, then his only further appearance for the season was in the Round 19 win over Hawthorn. St Kilda dominated the competition and qualified in first position for the AFL finals series, winning the minor premiership

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football club championship trophy, awarded each year to the club with the best aggregate performance across the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) seasons. The trophy was inaugur ...

. Geary was not selected to play in any of St Kilda's finals matches. In 2010, Geary played in 19 of St Kilda's 22 home and away matches, averaging 16.5 disposals per game. St Kilda qualified third for the AFL finals series, but Geary was again overlooked for the finals, not being selected for any of the Saints finals matches.

2011–2015: Finals, St Kilda's downturn

Geary was not selected to play in the 2011 premiership season until Round 18 against Adelaide, playing every game for the remainder of the season. He played in his first finals match in the losing second eliminati'son final which ended St Kilda's season. In the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Geary played 20 and 21 games respectively, averaging 17.6 disposals per game for both seasons. He had his most productive career match in the final game for the year, the Round 23 match against Fremantle at

Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...

, which was notable as being the final game for Saints legends

Justin Koschitzke Justin Gregory Koschitzke (born 20 September 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League. He played 200 games and kicked 247 goals for the club between 2001 and 2013. ...

, Jason Blake and

Stephen Milne Stephen Milne (born 8 March 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A small forward, he held the record for the most games played by a play ...

. St Kilda won the match by 71 points. A broken arm ended Geary's season in the Round 7 of 2014. In the 2015 season, Geary again play mainly across half-back, where he solidified his reputation as a dependable and courageous defender. He played 20 games for the season, averaging 19.2 per game. In 2016, Geary played 21 games, averaging just over 15 disposals per game.

2017–2020: Captaincy and return to finals

In 2017, Geary took over as captain from St Kilda's longest-serving captain,

Nick Riewoldt Nicholas Fredrick Riewoldt ( ; born 17 October 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was the first draft selection in the 2000 AFL draft. He was the ...

, in what was to be Riewoldt's final season as a player. He played every game for the year, averaging 16 disposals per game, with St Kilda finishing 11th on the ladder. Geary was again prominent in 2018, in what was a difficult year for the Saints, playing in 20 of St Kilda's 22 matches. He had his most productive season at the Saints, average over 20 disposals per game for the first time in his career. In 2019 he played four of the first five games before being injured and did not play again until the round 11 against Port Adelaide held in China. Geary suffered a serious broken leg in the match which ended his season. Geary again captained the Saints in a 2020 season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Matches were reduced to four fifths of full length (16 minutes plus time on per quarter) and the season as a whole was reduced to 17 home and away matches. In a season that was rescheduled regularly during the year, with games schedules released in small blocks, St Kilda proved to be resilient to the disruptions, despite the hardships caused by the ad-hoc scheduling. Big wins over the Sydney Swans in the annual Pride Game by 53 points, and over GWS Giants by 52 points in the final round, both at the Gabba, helped secure St Kilda's finals series qualification. St Kilda won the second elimination final, with Geary playing as a defensive forward. He kicked three goals, including the Saints' final goal, also being involved in other scoring chains, and had 12 disposals. St Kilda lost the following week's semi-final.

2021–2022: Co-captaincy and retirement

Jack Steele Jack Steele (born 13 December 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants from 2015 to 2016. Ste ...

joined Geary as co-captain ahead of the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. St Kilda finished 10th and missed the finals series. The round 12 match against the Sydney Swans turned out to be Geary's last game. On 14 July 2022, after not playing an AFL match during the season, Geary announced his retirement from AFL football after 16 seasons and 207 games for St Kilda. He was awarded honorary life membership to St Kilda for playing 150 games or more.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of round 8, 2022'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, , , , 42 , , 10 , , 0 , , 3 , , 56 , , 58 , , 114 , , 36 , , 13 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 5.6 , , 5.8 , , 11.4 , , 3.6 , , 1.3 , , 0 , - ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , , , 42 , , 15 , , 7 , , 5 , , 143 , , 111 , , 254 , , 70 , , 50 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 9.5 , , 7.4 , , 16.9 , , 4.7 , , 3.3 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, , , , 14 , , 19 , , 4 , , 3 , , 166 , , 148 , , 314 , , 74 , , 62 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 8.7 , , 7.8 , , 16.5 , , 3.9 , , 3.3 , , 0 , - ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, , , , 14 , , 8 , , 0 , , 0 , , 49 , , 30 , , 79 , , 14 , , 18 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.1 , , 3.8 , , 9.9 , , 1.8 , , 2.3 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, , , , 14 , , 20 , , 2 , , 3 , , 189 , , 163 , , 352 , , 78 , , 41 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 9.5 , , 8.2 , , 17.6 , , 3.9 , , 2.1 , , 0 , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, , , , 14 , , 7 , , 2 , , 1 , , 65 , , 50 , , 115 , , 27 , , 19 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 9.3 , , 7.1 , , 16.4 , , 3.9 , , 2.7 , , 0 , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, , , , 14 , , 20 , , 2 , , 0 , , 213 , , 174 , , 387 , , 98 , , 58 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 10.7 , , 8.7 , , 19.4 , , 4.9 , , 2.9 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , , , 14 , , 21 , , 3 , , 2 , , 164 , , 156 , , 320 , , 71 , , 48 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 7.8 , , 7.4 , , 15.2 , , 3.4 , , 2.3 , , 0 , - ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , , , 14 , , 22 , , 1 , , 0 , , 179 , , 175 , , 354 , , 77 , , 56 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 8.1 , , 8.0 , , 16.1 , , 3.5 , , 2.5 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , , , 14 , , 20 , , 3 , , 1 , , 193 , , 208 , , 401 , , 78 , , 48 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 9.7 , , 10.4 , , 20.1 , , 3.9 , , 2.4 , , 0 , - ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , , , 14 , , 5 , , 0 , , 1 , , 47 , , 47 , , 94 , , 20 , , 13 , , 0.0 , , 0.2 , , 9.4 , , 9.4 , , 18.8 , , 4.0 , , 2.6 , , 1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, , , , 14 , , 16 , , 5 , , 1 , , 83 , , 83 , , 166 , , 48 , , 28 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 5.2 , , 5.2 , , 10.4 , , 3.0 , , 1.8 , , 0 , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , , , 14 , , 3 , , 1 , , 1 , , 22 , , 18 , , 40 , , 15 , , 7 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 7.3 , , 6.0 , , 13.3 , , 5.0 , , 2.3 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, , , , 14 , , 0 , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , , – , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 207 ! 34 ! 25 ! 1776 ! 1584 ! 3360 ! 803 ! 526 ! 0.2 ! 0.1 ! 8.6 ! 7.7 ! 16.2 ! 3.9 ! 2.5 ! 3 Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Geary, Jarryn St Kilda Football Club players 1988 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Bendigo Pioneers players Eaglehawk Football Club players Sandringham Football Club players 21st-century Australian sportsmen