St Kilda Football Club midfielder Jack Steven was awarded his third Trevor Barker Award at Palladium, Crown tonight.

The reining winner was voted the club’s best and fairest in 2013 and 2015, becoming the tenth player in St Kilda’s history to be a triple club champion.

Steven led the count for majority of the night finishing on 172 votes ahead of teammate Jarryn Geary (157 votes) and Nick Riewoldt (153 votes).

One of five St Kilda players who didn’t miss a match in 2016, the speedy midfielder averaged 28.0 possessions (No. 16 in the AFL), 11.3 contested possessions, 5.3 inside 50s (No. 3), 5.5 clearances (No. 19), 5.6 tackles and 52.2 pressure points (No. 18) across all 22 games.

Steven joined the leadership group this year and captained the team to a 32-point victory over Carlton in Round 12.

Runner-up Jarryn Geary trailed by 15 votes at the final count and was also presented with the Lenny Hayes Player Trademark award as voted by his peers. The highly-regarded leader had a consistent 2016 with the coaches acknowledging his fine performance against Crow Eddie Betts in Round 11 with 15 votes.

Riewoldt experienced a late surge bolstered by his Round 23 performance, finishing a close third to Geary. The veteran equalled his personal best nine goals and took a career-high 21 marks in the last game of the season, which earned him a perfect 20 votes from the coaching panel.

St Kilda leader David Armitage, who played his 150th game in the Round 23 win over Brisbane Lions, was presented with life membership at the event.

Newcomers to the top ten included Seb Ross (sixth), Tom Hickey (eighth) and Tim Membrey (ninth) with the latter claiming the Best Emerging Player award for his 44-goal performance over 17 games in 2016, also landing him the title of the Saints’ leading goal kicker for the season.

Trevor Barker Award top 10

1. Jack Steven (172)2. Jarryn Geary (157)
3. Nick Riewoldt (153)
4. Leigh Montagna (127)
5. Jack Newnes (125)
6. Seb Ross (122)
7. Maverick Weller (117)
8. Tom Hickey (102)
9. Tim Membrey (99)
10. Sean Dempster (96)
10. David Armitage (96)

Other awards

Best Emerging Player award – Tim Membrey

Robert Harvey Best Clubman award – Sam Gilbert

Lenny Hayes Player Trademark award – Jarryn Geary

John Moran Loyalty award – Bev Browne (Founder of Queensland Saints)

Life membership

David Armitage and Club Medical Officer Dr Ian Stone

Trevor Barker Award voting procedure

St Kilda Football Club Senior Coach Alan Richardson, Director of Coaching and Development Danny Sexton and Senior Assistant Coaches Adam Kingsley, Aaron Hamill and Rohan Welsh vote in each game. The senior coaching panel vote confidentially and do not confer with each other. Not all players need to be given a vote and a maximum of 20 votes can be accumulated by a player each game. Each player can receive votes as follows:

  • One vote: played role effectively
  • Two votes: among the best for St Kilda in this game
  • Three votes: one, two or very occasionally, three players who are deemed the very best on ground for St Kilda in this game
  • Four votes: an exceptionally outstanding game, very rarely given.