Jack Steven

Jack Steven is a junior midfielder who made his debut in 2009. In 2011, he cemented himself in the Saints' regular side, covering the injury to superstar  Lenny Hayes. His effort in 2011 outstanding, and was nominated for a NAB Rising Star Award. Steven stepped up again in 2012, building on his breakout 2011 season and remaining in the Club's best 22 for the whole season. Averaging 20.2 disposals and 1.95 goals a game, Steven became deadly feature of St Kilda's midfield, providing significant pace and a dangerous option in front of goal.

=Draft and Debut:2007-2009= At the time of being picked by St Kilda with the No. 42 selection in the 2007 National Draft 17 year old Jack Steven was 180 centimetres tall and weighed 78 kilograms. Steven was recruited from Lorne and the Geelong Falcons Under-18s, he was the youngest player on St Kilda’s list for the 2008 season. Jack won the Geelong Falcons 2007 best and fairest and represented Vic Country at the Under-18s Championships. The profile for Steven in the AFL Record Season Guide to 2008 said “The fiercely competitive midfielder/forward has been likened to Geelong tough-nut Paul Chapman. Quick with good endurance, he excels at winning the contested ball.”2

In a 2008 NAB Cup match against Geelong Steven kicked the final goal of the match to play a pivotal role in the five point victory. St Kilda went onto win the 2008 NAB Cup however Steven was not selected in the Grand Final side. In 2008 Steven completed Year 12 and played 20 games for Casey in the VFL, he impressed with his form late in the season to be named as an emergency for St Kilda’s last two finals.

During Steven’s first season on St Kilda’s list in 2008 he received guidance from St Kilda legend Robert Harvey who was in his last AFL season. Harvey also gained from this experience and in his retirement press conference on August 6 2008 he said “I share a locker next to Jack Steven now, who comes in every day and takes his school uniform off and puts his bag down – and that was me. Being next to him has been good because it has ignited my memories of that.”3

Steven missed the start of the 2009 VFL season with an ankle injury and made his first appearance for Sandringham in Round 5. Steven finished fifth in Sandringham’s 2009 best and fairest despite only playing 15 games.

In Round 19 2009 Jack Steven made his AFL debut as a 19 year old against Hawthorn in Launceston. The St Kilda side was missing stars Nick Riewoldt, Leigh Montagna, Lenny Hayes, Brendon Goddard, Sam Fisher,Sam Gilbert and Nick Dal Santo. On debut Steven had 10 kicks, four marks, five handballs, kicked a goal and laid four tackles in St Kilda’s 25 point victory. The pressure applied by the entire St Kilda side was phenomenal, and demonstrated that Saints Footy relies more on each player performing their role and maintaining the team structures rather than the personnel available.

Despite playing well on debut Steven was left out of the side for Round 20 as St Kilda had to make room for their returning stars. Jack was named as an emergency for three of St Kilda’s final six games of the season including the Preliminary Final against the Western Bulldogs.

In the first two seasons of Steven’s career St Kilda had been involved in the finals deep into September, having made the Preliminary Final in 2008 and the Grand Final in 2009. St Kilda had a very experienced side during this period as indicated by the youngest Saints to play the 2009 Grand Final being Zac Dawson, Sam Gilbert, Andrew McQualter and Farren Ray who were all 23 years of age. Given that these four players had all been on AFL lists for over four years and had on average played 64 games they could hardly be called inexperienced. =2010 Season= lthough Steven played only one AFL game in his first two seasons St Kilda still had high expectations for him and at the start of 2010 promoted him to the number 3 gurnsey previously worn by St Kilda greats including three-time best and fairest winner Nathan Burke and 1967 Brownlow Medalist Ross Smith. Although St Kilda planned to use Steven as a forward during 2010, as he gained more AFL experience he was expected to spend additional time in the midfield making a similar transition to the one made by St Kilda teammate Leigh Montagna.

Steven injured his foot early in the first quarter of St Kilda’s 2010 Round 1 NAB Cup match against Collingwood which prevented him from playing again until the opening round of the VFL season which was played on the same weekend as Round 3 of the AFL season. Steven was rewarded for his good form in the first three rounds of the VFL season with selection in St Kilda’s Round 6 match against the Western Bulldogs. Jack retained his place for Round 7 against Carlton but was then relegated to the VFL for the next five weeks. Upon regaining his spot in the Saints lineup Steven played six consecutive matches for St Kilda from Round 13 to Round 18.

Steven’s most impressive AFL performance during 2010 was in Round 13 against Geelong when in only his fourth AFL match he turned the game on its head during the third quarter kicking three goals in a row to swing momentum St Kilda’s way after the Saints had trailed by 16 points at half-time. St Kilda never looked back and went on to record an impressive 24 point victory.

Steven in his first AFL game at the MCG showed great composure to have 86% disposal efficiency in the wet conditions and also be St Kilda’s most effective forward marking target, 20 year old Steven’s five marks inside 50, amazingly was one more than his St Kilda teammates combined. Steven finished the game against Geelong with nine kicks, five handballs, nine marks and three goals. Given how influential his third quarter was on the result of the match Steven was unlucky to miss out on a Rising Star nomination.

The following week against Melbourne Steven played well, with nine kicks, nine handballs, seven tackles and a goal. Steven’s form dropped away with nine possessions in Round 17 against Hawthorn and four possessions against Essendon in Round 18 which resulted in him being dropped for Round 19.

Steven was unable to regain his position in the St Kilda side although he was close to senior selection, twice being named as an emergency including for the Preliminary Final against the Western Bulldogs.

In 2010 Steven played 8 matches averaging 88 minutes, 6.3 kicks, 5.0 handballs and 2.5 marks a game with a disposal efficiency of 76.7%. Steven was very accurate around goal, kicking ten goals and two behinds to be ranked equal eighth at St Kilda for total goals and fifth for goals per game with 1.25.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Steven was mainly used as a small forward during 2010 “winning 30% of his disposals inside the forward 50 and his forward pressure was excellent as he averaged four tackles per game – ranked equal seventh at the club.”4 =2011 Season= <p style="line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Steven's start to the 2011 season would be controversial. In January, the team was in Queenstown, New Zealand, for a pre-season camp. Towards the end of the camp, Steven, along with Rhys Stanley and Paul Cahill mixed prescription drugs and alcohol, breaching behavioural standards and breaking curfew. The 3, along with Zac Dawson for a separate incident, were suspended for 6 weeks. The suspension included prohibitions from playing games, including the NAB Cup, and each had to undergo counseling, undertake volunteer work, obtain full-time work for the duration of their suspension and were fined $5000 each. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-0" style="line-height:1em;">[1]  In his 14 AFL matches before Round 9, Jack Steven averaged 11.8 possessions a game and only had more than 14 possessions twice with a career best of 18 disposals in Round 14 2010 against Melbourne. With increased time in the midfield over 2011 he flourished and in Round 12 2011 against the Western Bulldogs Jack Steven had at least 20 possessions for the fourth successive week and averaged 24.25 disposals in his past four games, just over double his career average for his first 14 games.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">From Round 9 to Round 12 Steven lead St Kilda for clearances with 21, of St Kilda’s four games during this time Steven had the most clearances in three of them with Round 10 against Fremantle being the exception.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Although Steven was kept to only two clearances in Round 10 against Fremantle he was still one of St Kilda’s best players and earnt himself a Rising Star Nomination with 27 disposals, four tackles and a goal.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">May/June was undoubtedly the highlight of Steven’s AFL career to date, however earlier in the year he was at his lowest ebb since joining St Kilda after being suspended by the club.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">It was been a great response from Steven to return to the St Kilda side in Round 3 against Essendon and maintain his position in the Saints side since then to play nine consecutive games, the exact number of games that Jack had played in total during his first three seasons at St Kilda.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">From the time Steven was drafted St Kilda have been one of the most experienced and best performed clubs in the AFL limiting the opportunities for Saints youngsters and in Round 10 2011 Steven became just St Kilda’s second Rising Star nominee since Sam Gilbert in Round 16 2007 with the Saints other nominee during this time being Jarryn Geary in Round 8 2009.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">After being overlooked for the first two rounds Steven was brought into the St Kilda side for Round 3 replacing Lenny Hayes who would miss the rest of the 2011 season due to having a knee reconstruction.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In his first three matches of the season Steven averaged 14 possessions a game and kicked a total of five goals, as the 2011 season progressed Steven began to spend less time in the forward line and be given significant opportunities in the Saints midfield.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In Round 9 against Melbourne Steven set a new career best for disposals with 14 kicks and 13 handballs including 11 contested possessions and was damaging with his ball use having a disposal efficiency of 85.2%. The very next week against Fremantle Steven had another 27 possession game to match his new career PB.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In the Round 10 match against Fremantle at Patersons Stadium Steven contributed to St Kilda’s procession of sublime goals from the boundary line with one from the right forward pocket 47 metres out from goal in the last quarter to extend St Kilda’s lead to 55 points. Steven had 13 kicks, 14 handballs and a score assist to receive the Round 10 Rising Star nomination as well as two votes from True Sainters members for being judged St Kilda’s second best player in the match behind Nick Dal Santo.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">Against Collingwood in Round 11 Steven led St Kilda for contested possessions and clearances with 13 and six respectively. Steven had 13 kicks, 10 handballs, took five marks and laid four tackles.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:19.1875px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;">In a Friday night Round 12 match against the Western Bulldogs Jack Steven continued his career best form of recent weeks to have 12 kicks, eight handballs and lead St Kilda in tackles (11) and clearances (6). Steven’s workrate led to Nick Dal Santo kicking St Kilda’s third goal of the night, after he cleverly kept the ball in play on the wing along the boundary line, Shaun Higgins just beat Jack to the ball, however a Steven tackle caused Higgins to kick the ball in the wrong direction, Steven followed up to gain possession and handball to Schneider who quickly handpassed to Dal Santo who kicked a team lifting left foot goal on the run from 40 metres out. Steven had 10 contested possessions and received the 3 votes from True Sainters members for his Round 12 performance. =Statistics= =References=
 * 1 AFL, AFL Record Season Guide 2011, page 553
 * 2 AFL, AFL Record Season Guide 2008, page 263
 * 3 The Slattery Media Group, Harvs St Kilda legend – souvenir of a Saints champion, page 77
 * 4 Champion Data, AFL Prospectus the essential number-cruncher for season 2011, 6th edition, page 257.
 * 5 St Kilda Football Club, Media Statement on 31 January 2011 on www.saints.com.au
 * 6 AFL, NAB AFL Rising Star round 10: Jack Steven, 31 May 2011 by Luke Holmseby, www.AFL.com.au
 * 1) ↑ http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/saints-ban-four-for-six-weeks-20110131-1abaz.html