Jack Steele has added to his list of post-season accolades tonight after being awarded the AFL Players' Association Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award.

The two-time All-Australian's latest distinction was voted on by his peers across the competition, with the award presented to him by six-time winner Glenn Archer on Channel 7's The Front Bar.

Steele polled 186 votes to pull well ahead of runner-up Tom Doedee (118 votes) and podium finisher Liam Baker (61) to become the first Saint to take out the player-voted award since it was first introduced in 1991.

Voting for the AFL Players' Association MVP Awards is a two-stage process, with players nominating their teammates in stage one before selecting from a competition-wide field in stage two. Players cannot vote for a player from their own club during stage two of the voting process.

Steele averaged a career-best 29 disposals, 14 contested possessions, eight tackles and six clearances throughout Season 2021 – all of which were ranked as elite – and topped the club in all key statistical metrics while simultaneously shouldering the many responsibilities as co-captain.

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He also closed out the home-and-away season with the highest number of tackles in the league (185, just one short of the all-time record) and placed in the top-10 for total contested possessions (fourth), pressure acts (fifth), clearances (eighth) and disposals (tenth).

Steele finished fifth (261 votes) in the Leigh Matthews Most Valuable Trophy Player for the second consecutive year, as well as third for the Best Captain Award. 

AFLPA MVP

Marcus Bontempelli (1176)
Sam Walsh (426)
Touk Miller (411)
Christian Petracca (338)
Jack Steele (261)

Most Courageous

Jack Steele (186)
Tom Doedee (118)
Liam Baker (61)
Liam Jones (55)
Tom Jonas (40)

Best First-Year Player

Errol Gulden (299)
Nikolas Cox (139)
Riley Thilthorpe (56)
Tom Powell (27)
Tom Highmore (26)

Best Captain

Marcus Bontempelli (224)
Max Gawn (87)
Jack Steele (83)
Joel Selwood (60)
Scott Pendlebury (36)

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