An outstanding person, who sets the standard on the track, in the field of play and behind closed doors. In a nutshell, that’s the appraisal of new St Kilda Captain, Jarryn Geary, from Saints Coach, Alan Richardson.

Geary, 28, takes the reins from the clubs longest serving skipper – and the third longest in the game’s history – Nick Riewoldt, with St Kilda announcing a new eight-man leadership group that is in with the new, while retaining the influence of the elder statesmen.

After finishing runner-up behind Jack Steven in last year’s Trevor Barker Award, Geary is coming off the best season of his 10-year career, which now includes two top-five best and fairest finishes in the last two seasons.

Thrilled by Geary’s ascension from the rookie list to become the latest Captain of St Kilda Football Club, Richardson lauded the new skippers care for the direction of the club and those who are part of the journey.

“‘Gears’ is an outstanding person, he’s got a really good balance, he knows when to have a joke, he knows when to be really challenging, he’s a very caring person,” Richardson told saints.com.au ahead of the Saints’ leadership announcement.

“He sets incredible standards, his pre-season work is second to none, he’s physical, he’s aggressive, and he’s incredibly reliable on game day.

“He just came runner-up in the best and fairest in a year where we won more games than we lost, so he’s footy is continuing to improve and already stacks up in a really strong way.”

Richardson doesn’t want the ultra-reliable small defender to alter his leadership approach, opining that the reason he has been voted into the role by his peers, and ratified by the coaching staff and board, is because of what he already does.

“We want him to continue to be Jarryn Geary, we don’t want him to turn into Nick Riewoldt – he’s not going to do that – we want him to be Jarryn Geary,” Richardson said. “And that goes for all the guys that are in the leadership group, they are all unique in their own way and they complement each other really well.”

Having played at least 20 games in four of the last five seasons – he missed the second half of 2014 with a serious elbow injury in his 100^th game – Geary has been a permanent fixture in St Kilda’s back six for a long time now.

Richardson praised Geary’s ability to encourage and instil faith in his teammates, while also holding them to high standards to ensure they get the most out of themselves for the betterment of the team.

“We need leaders to make other players better; we need our leaders to really drive the direction of the footy club. It’s a really exciting time at the club,” Richardson said.

“I think our fans would know that ‘Gears’ has been a real staple for a long time in our backline, someone that they can trust in terms of stopping the bloke he’s playing on and giving us a bit of drive.

“What our fans wouldn’t know is how positive and constructive he is off the field with his teammates and how challenging and demanding he is with his teammates and that’s what we’re after from a captain.

“He’ll need to be challenging on his teammates if it is we’re sloppy on the track or don’t quite train at a really high standard. If it is on game day that guys need reminders on intensity or structure or being bold or being aggressive then it won’t just be ‘Gears’, but he’ll need to drive it.”