Jack Steele

Jack Steele (born 13 December 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Canberra-raised AFL footballers were uncommon at the time of Steele's drafting, with Jason Tutt (2009) the most recent Canberran to be drafted in the AFL.

In 2012 Steele had a taste of football at senior level, playing six games for the University of Western Sydney (UWS) Giants in the NEAFL.

In May 2013 Steele dislocated his knee at the team’s training camp in Coffs Harbour a week before the Under 18 National Championships.

The injury forced him to miss the carnival and although he was eligible for selection at the 2013 AFL Draft he was overlooked.

As he had in 2013, Steele played junior football Steele played games at senior level in the NEAFL for both Belconnen and UWS Giants in 2014.

Steele averaged averaging 24.7 disposals, 6.8 marks, 6.7 tackles, 12.0 contested possessions and 1.0 goals per game for Rams in the TAC Cup.

At the 2014 Under 18 National Championships Steele was phenomenal in his three games for New South Wales/ACT, averaging 13.0 kicks, 7.7 handballs, 5.7 marks, 3.0 tackles, 11.7 contested possessions and 2.0 goals per game and won All-Australian honours as NSW/ACT's MVP.

Steele was alsoselected on the interchange in the 2014 Under 18 All-Australian team.

At the 2014 AFL Draft combine Steele performed well, having three top 10 results – finishing equal ninth in the kicking test, 3km time-trial and beep test.

Steele was drafted by Greater Western Sydney as an academy player (their first ever) with pick 24 overall in the 2014 AFL draft after the North Melbourne Football Club unsuccessfully bid for him with their first round pick listed as 16 overall.

He previously played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants from 2015 to 2016.

Steele has won two Trevor Barker Awards and is a dual All-Australian.

He served as St Kilda co-captain in 2021, and has served as the sole captain since the 2022 season.

Steele is from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT).

His father Stuart played Rugby League at club level in country New South Wales and several of Jack’s uncles also played Rugby League.

Jack’s older sister Sophie represented the ACT in basketball as a junior.

Steele's father suggested he play Australian rules football.

Steele participated in the Auskick program at Belconnen and he joined the Belconnen Magpies via their junior system.

Steele was a Collingwood supporter as a youth.

Steele was a budding sportsman as a junior, playing cricket and soccer, while he also played basketball with future tennis star Nick Kyrgios when he was 12.

Steele eventually focused on AFL at around 15 or 16.

Steele joined the GWS Giants' Academy at just 13 years of age and went on to play with the UWS Giants, the NSW/ACT Rams and continued playing for the Magpies (alongside future St Kilda teammate Logan Austin ) while at the Academy.

Steele coincidentally made his debut against in round 12 of the 2015 season and impressed with 17 disposals and 10 tackles.

Steele played seven AFL games in his debut season at the Giants including six consecutive games from Round 12 to Round 18, and played a further 11 with their NEAFL side where he was in their best players eight times.

His best game for the year would be against his future side St Kilda in Round 15 where he collected 20 touches, 3 marks, 6 tackles and 1 goal.

Steele commenced 2016 in the seniors and had 11 disposals and kicked one goal against Melbourne in Round 1.

Steele was omitted for Round 2 but his time in the NEAFL was short-lived, being recalled to the senior side in Round 4.

In five AFL games from Round 4 to Round 8 rotating between the midfield and the forward line Steele averaged 18 disposals and a goal per game with the Giants recording five consecutive victories.

Steele only playing four AFL games from Round 9 to Round 17.

After playing consecutive AFL games in Round 16 and Round 17 Steele missed Rounds 18 and 19 with a hand injury and was unable to regain his place in the Giants AFL team.

The Giants midfield was stacked with talent including Callan Ward, Stephen Coniglio, Dylan Shiel, Adam Treloar, Ryan Griffen, Josh Kelly, Lachie Whitfield and Tom Scully whilst Toby Greene and Devon Smith supported as forwards who rotated through the midfield.

This made it very difficult for younger mids like Steele to get selected and gain AFL experience.

At the conclusion of the 2016 season, Steele requested a trade from Greater Western Sydney and nominated as his preferred destination.

He was traded to in exchange for the club's future 2017 second round draft pick (used to select Brent Daniels).

Of the trade, Saints Chief Operating Officer Ameet Bains stated that "Jack’s a tough, big-bodied midfielder that will complement the mix we’ve got in there already and offer some high quality support to players like Jack Steven and David Armitage...Although Jack was a Giants academy player, we followed him closely in his draft year and have monitored his progress ever since, particularly in the last 12 months when we identified the potential for him to move clubs in search of opportunity."

Bains also stipulated that "Jack had a number of options, but he was really keen to come to our club. He sees an opportunity to play regular senior football at St Kilda and was attracted to us because he sees a club that is building the right way."

Steele himself cited opportunity at AFL-level as the driving factor for requesting a trade; "I really wanted to be playing consistent AFL footy, and at the Giants and with their list and the players they had it was just too hard to crack, if you did play one bad game I suppose you felt like your spot was in a bit of jeopardy, I didn’t really want that stress. I did want to stay there and be a one club player and try and win a premiership with that team but at the end of the day I wasn’t playing AFL footy so I think coming to St Kilda was the best thing I have done."

Steele made his debut for St Kilda Football Club in Round 1 of the 2017 season against the Melbourne Football Club, and set a new personal best of 23 disposals in a game consisting of eight kicks and 15 handballs, he also had 12 contested possessions and took seven marks.

At one point, Steele, Belconnen teammate Logan Austin as well as Josh Bruce, all from Canberra, were playing together at St Kilda (2018) with Steele reflecting that "it's funny, we always make jokes about Canberra and stuff with each other that only the three of us would understand. It's still pretty weird to think that we're probably [close to] the only three Canberra blokes in the AFL and we're all on the same side."