Newly appointed St Kilda Captain Jarryn Geary admits he is honoured to be handed the coveted role, with the new leader joining a small, distinguished group of players to lead the red, white and black.

Highly regarded inside the four walls of Linen House Centre, Geary is the quintessential team man, who assumes the responsibility from the Saints’ longest serving skipper, Nick Riewoldt, after the champion forward relinquished the title last September.

After being taken with the sixth last pick in the 2006 Rookie Draft, Geary has carved out a career as an ultra-dependable small defender and is coming off his best season yet, having finished runner-up in the best and fairest, following a fifth place finish a year earlier.

“I’m obviously very humbled and honoured to be named captain. It’s a great football club, St Kilda, and there haven’t been a lot of captains – I think I’m the 62nd captain of the club,” Geary told saints.com.au on Tuesday.

“There’s been a lot more players come through the door so I’m obviously very honoured to be chosen to be captain.”

Renowned for his elite level of preparation, his desire to squeeze every last drop out of his ability and his capacity to make others better, Geary intends to continue to drive the standards at the club to help lead the Saints back up the ladder.

“I think I’ll be the kind of leader that leads by actions, like everyone wants to,” Geary said.

“We’re in a really good position where we’ve got a really good group of leaders now that are going to really drive the club with their actions first.

“We’ve got some values that we hold really close to our chest. Hopefully we can deliver on them each week and the boys can get in behind them and do the same.”

While the Saints new-look leadership group won’t include Riewoldt, Leigh Montagna or Sean Dempster, the experienced elder statesmen will still provide guidance and advice for Geary and the leadership group.

“They stood up in front of the group and basically said ‘we’re stepping away because you guys are ready to drive this club forward in the next stage of our journey’,” Geary said,

“But they are going to be really good to have them there in case we need them to fall back on and use them in whatever capacity we need. They are a great resource for us boys.”

As part of the transition from experience to youth, Dylan Roberton, Josh Bruce and Seb Ross enter the leadership group for the first time in their careers, joining Mav Weller, Jack Newnes, Jack Steven and David Armitage in the group.

Geary said all three inclusions not only get the job done on the field and on a consistent basis but are also all great communicators, helping make their teammates better footballers for the betterment of the team.

“We’ve got a really good group of young leaders who have great relationships with the rest of the group which is really important, but they also play really good consistent footy," Geary said.

“Dylan Roberton – he’s been playing some good footy over the last couple of years and not only is he a really good player but his voice in the backline helps us set up and drive our defence.

“Josh Bruce’s last couple of years at the club have been really positive with his leadership and Seb Ross is a really measured person, he’s been playing some really good football over the last couple of years so he brings another dynamic the group.”

Snapshot:

Jarryn Geary

141 games

2016 Trevor Barker Award Runner-Up

2016 Lenny Hayes Trademark Award

2015 Best Clubman

Pick No. 58 in the 2007 Rookie Draft