JACK Steven has the potential to become one of the best midfielders in the competition, believes St Kilda teammate Jarryn Geary.

Steven, 23, has taken further steps this season as a member of the Saints' midfield after playing 21 games in 2012.

He enters round nine ranked first at the Saints and 15th in the competition in contested possessions, and is also topping the club for clearances as well as being ranked equal 19th in the League in that category.  

Steven had a career-high 39 disposals against Carlton in round seven and is averaging more than 25 a game this season.

Geary warned the competition of Steven's potential to be a commanding midfielder once he developed consistency.

"I think he's shown over the last year and the start of this year he's a really good player and when he's up and about, he's probably as good and as exciting as anyone," Geary told AFL.com.au.

"It's going to be difficult for him, well, not difficult, but in essence to take the step with his consistency from having OK games to really good games every week.

"At the moment, he's having really, really good games one week and then having good games the next week.

"Once he starts getting his consistency right, he's going to be pretty difficult for teams to stop.

"He's a goalkicker, he runs and carries the ball … he's pretty exciting to play with and watch."

It's not just Steven that has Geary excited about the changing of the guard in the Saints' midfield.

He said this season had seen a range of players stand up at senior level who would develop with more exposure to the AFL stage.

"On the weekend, Jack Newnes had a really good game – probably his best he's played for us – and seeing him do well, and Seb Ross … they're really starting to play good football in there and that's really exciting," he said.

"We've had a few younger guys come in over the last few years but we haven't really had a lot of midfielders, we've had a few small forwards like Terry [Milera] and 'Saady' [Ahmed Saad] who came in and were really exciting but we haven't had a lot of midfielders.

"It's really good to start to see those guys, and the likes of Jimmy Webster, Brodie Murdoch and Josh Saunders … it's really exciting for the club when they come in and they're really starting to take the game on and have an influence in games.

"They more games they get, the more exciting they're going to be.

"It is exciting, it's adding another dimension to our group, which is really good."

Jennifer Phelan is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow her on Twitter @AFL_JenPhelan