George Stevens' brilliant 2026 VFL season has seen him share the honours in the competition's top award, with the star on-baller finishing tied at the top of the leaderboard in the J.J Liston Trophy at the VFL Awards on Monday night. 

The J.J Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the VFL, with the current voting system operating in the same way as the AFL's Brownlow Medal. 

In one of the more enthralling vote counts ever seen, Stevens polled three votes in Geelong's final game of the home-and-away season to tie Trent Mynott on 22 votes, with the pair sharing the VFL's top honour. 

Despite Stevens and Mynott winning the award, they were not the highest vote-getters in the season with Jacob Dawson and Ben Hobbs finishing atop the leaderboard, but both players were ineligible after suspensions during the season. 

Claiming the award for the first time, the star Cat adds his name to a list of previous winners for Geelong including Jordan Schroder (2013) and James Byrne (2007). 

Stevens continued his impressive form after a strong 2025 season, which saw him finish tied for ninth in the J.J Liston Trophy and second in Geelong's VFL Best and Fairest. 

He signalled his intent early in 2026 and immediately took his game to new heights, collecting 34 disposals and a goal in the Cats' season opening victory over Essendon. 

It would be the first of 11 outings where Stevens finished with 30 or more disposals through to Sunday's Preliminary Final, which also includes a career-high 41-disposal game in Round 10 against Carlton. 

Stevens' year to date has been absolutely phenomenal, averaging 30.6 disposals, 7.8 clearances and 5.3 tackles per game, while also adding a new dimension to his game and kicking 13 goals across the season. 

Despite his remarkable consistency, Stevens saved some of his best work for the post-season, starting with a 31-disposal, eight clearance and one goal outing in the Qualifying Final, helping steer the Cats to a gritty win over Tasmania. 

He then backed it up with another terrific outing in the Preliminary Final, picking up a game-high 30 disposals, nine clearances and another goal to guide Geelong to their first VFL Grand Final since 2013. 

In between his form at VFL level, Stevens was also rewarded with two AFL games throughout the campaign, particularly impressing with 18 disposals and five clearances in Round 15 against Fremantle. 

Stevens will lead the Cats into Sunday's 2026 Smithy's VFL Grand Final, as Geelong prepares to take on the Box Hill Hawks at IKON Park from 2.05pm AEST.