SOME of the big-ticket items when you knock around the streets of Caulfield include the fate of Frank Penhalluriack’s iconic and historic hardware store and the chronic shortage of playing fields for the area’s burgeoning number of sporting clubs. And a new café seems to open up every second week.

But as Jarryn Geary has discovered, Caulfield and its immediate surrounds are also heavily invested the fortunes of the St Kilda Football Club, wedged as it is half-way between its first home at the Junction Oval and its spiritual home at Moorabbin.

The newly-installed captain of the Saints moved into the area about a year ago and now understands there are St Kilda fans to meet, whether he’s grabbing a coffee, a litre of milk or walking the dog.

“There’s a lot more people saying hello,” he told the AFL Record with a laugh ahead of this week’s clash with the Sydney Swans, his 150th game.

“I have a lot more friends now.”

What the Saints fans know and what the rest of the AFL is cottoning on to quickly is that Geary was a good choice to be the new captain of St Kilda.

The shoes left by Nick Riewoldt, who skippered the Saints for 11 years, would seem impossibly large to fill, but the 28-year-old is carving his own niche and quickly.

Acts like his crunching tackle on the hulking Jonathon Patton a fortnight ago made the rest of the competition sit up and take notice.

The Greater Western Sydney forward was charging forward, with teammates waiting ahead of the ball to run into an open goal, when Geary brought him to ground and forced a ball-up.

It was a statement move on the big stage – St Kilda’s first Friday night game for more than two years – and it helped pave the way for a statement 23-point win that underlined that, after a few years in the wilderness, the Saints might be back.

“I had to influence the contest,” he said. “I knew I had to stick the tackle.”

St Kilda coach Alan Richardson wasn’t surprised one bit.

“He does that often. That got highlighted because we were able to consolidate a victory against a really good opponent on a Friday night. But it doesn’t matter how big they are, he’s a ferocious, aggressive player. He doesn’t blink; he goes.”

Geary has been thereabouts at the Saints for a while. He came through the ranks in Bendigo with great mate, now Geelong star Joel Selwood.

One of those ‘I really know I’m now the captain’ moments came when he got to spend time with Selwood in an environment the Cats skipper is most comfortable – the pre-season AFL captains’ day at Etihad Stadium.

“It was great to share it with someone I grew up with,” Geary said.

But whereas Selwood was the No. 7 selection in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft and an instant star, Geary was the 58th selection at the Rookie Draft 12 months later.

He played 10 games in an improving St Kilda side under Ross Lyon in 2008 and 19 in 2009, but was overlooked for the Grand Final that year as Lyon opted for as much experience as he could muster.

He played 15 games the following year, but again missed out on the dual Grand Final experience.

But rather than be chastened by the memories of again spectating at a St Kilda Grand Final, Geary cites it as one of the best periods of his career.

“The Grand Finals weren’t to be. I obviously played a lot of footy both those years, but they were still good experiences to be part of.”

It is that sort of comment that teammate Leigh Montagna believes endears Geary to everyone at St Kilda.

“It speaks to his selfless character doesn’t it? He puts the team and the club ahead of his own desires and what he wants to achieve, and that’s why he’s a great player around the footy club,” Montagna said.

Geary bridges two eras at St Kilda and one of the reasons he emerged as the obvious replacement for Riewoldt as skipper was his ability to mix equally with all the young players brought to the club over the past five years and what’s left of the old guard.

Only he, David Armitage and Sam Gilbert straddle that generational gap.

“The good thing about ‘Gears’ is that he gets on well with the younger players and having some fun with them, but he also has the ability to get on with the older players and the staff around the club,” Montagna said.

“He’s probably one of the characters around the club with pranks and being silly, but when it’s time to work he knuckles down and gets things done.

“And what he produces on the ground is exactly what you want from a leader. It’s a nice blend and a nice balance. He leads through his deeds.”

“At some stage I can be a bit immature and other times more mature. It keeps things interesting,” Geary said, adding that some of his renowned pranking has been delegated to Jimmy Webster.

But once the games start, Geary takes his cue from Riewoldt – like pretty much everyone at St Kilda – but also the likes of recently retired fellow defender Sean Dempster. Statistics don’t matter as much as one percenters and team-oriented acts.

“Being a team player and sacrificing my own game for others is what I hold in high regard,” he said.

Richardson loves much of what Geary brings to St Kilda’s back half.

He can play lockdown football and one of the few highlights of an otherwise awful 88-point drubbing from Adelaide last year was keeping Eddie Betts to just one goal. Other times he fits into the overall mix.

He came second in last year’s best and fairest and has finished in the top 10 on four occasions.

“He’s just so consistent. There’s not a big gap between his best performance and his lesser performances,” Richardson said.

“He rarely gets beaten in contests, he’s got this terrific ability to be able to know when to stay or when to leave and run to a contest either in the air or on the deck.

“He’s very clean, able to control the footy and he provides our team with enormous energy and run.”

If anything, Geary’s future might be as more of a negater.

A feature of St Kilda’s fast-improving backline is the ball use and rebounding of the likes of Dylan Roberton and Webster, leaving Geary to win the ball and get it to them so they can attack the game with their run and ball use.

Montagna isn’t quite so sure just yet. He believes Geary is more than handy with ball in hand.

“When he’s playing his best footy, he’s able to intercept well, run and dash off half-back and be third man in a contest,” he said.

“With his spoiling and tackling pressure, he is everything you want from a defender.”

And from a captain.

Geary had to jump through a few hoops before being named as Riewoldt’s successor.

Discussions with possible replacements started even as far back as two years ago and the players nominated him for the job once Riewoldt formally stood down.

The final step was Richardson’s sign-off, which was soon forthcoming, and with genuine excitement.

“He’s the complete package with his ability to play the game the way we want him to play, to be able to train and prepare and set a great example of what we want at the Saints,” Richardson said.

“And he has a really good balance with how he communicates with his teammates, whether they are younger or older.

“He can strike that great balance of being direct and challenging if need be, but also showing empathy and care at the right time.”

Added Montagna: “The key thing that was explained to him was that he didn’t need to be Nick Riewoldt. He just had to be himself and lead in the way that’s just an extension of how he’s been the last few years.”

Like all new captains, Geary has had to learn to strike the balance between leading the team and readying himself to play the best he can.

It took him a couple of weeks to work through that, but his preparation as a player and leader is now where he wants it.

The key, he said, is to communicate and reinforce the key messages of the week.

And he got plenty of practice ahead of the Hawthorn game in round five, which came as the team was teetering at 2-3, having blown three comfortable leads in the process.

It was an edgy week at the Linen House Centre, but the Saints came out and walloped the Hawks by 75 points, putting their third quarter struggles and road woes to bed at the same time.

“The reason why I was put into this role was partly because of the way I am when I wasn’t the captain, so to get away from that would have taken something away from my own game,” he said.

Addressing the team in the moments before the game is still taking some getting used to, but this captaincy caper is starting to take shape for Geary just as the season is for the Saints.

His leadership was tested over the past week in the fallout from last Saturday’s game against Carlton.

Geary acknowledged some of his teammates “overstepped the mark” and he personally apologised to Marc Murphy for comments directed at the Blues skipper and his family during the game.

It was a situation a bit like having Patton hurtling forward at a million miles an hour. Firm leadership was required. Someone at St Kilda needed to be the adult in the room so the formerly self-described “pest” didn’t blink; he picked up the phone.

“That comes with being more comfortable in the position,” he said.