AFL 2021: The pick swap that saw Kysaiah Pickett arrive at Melbourne Demons

Kysaiah Pickett lit up Marvel Stadium against St Kilda with some electric goalkicking. This is how Melbourne landed the livewire forward.

Kysaiah Pickett snaps at goal. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

It was the savvy trade which delivered Melbourne one of the most exciting young players in the competition.

At the end of 2019, the Demons were licking their wounds after a terrible year saw the club tumble down the ladder from preliminary finalist to easy beat.

And with pick three, Simon Goodwin’s recruiting team had their eyes fixed on Australian basketballer-turned ruckman Luke Jackson, who could do anything from play in the ruck to flourish as a tall midfielder.

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But it was how the Demons took the punt on an exchange with North Melbourne that netted the club a man which in only his second season has started to draw comparisons to Hawthorn premiership hero Cyril Rioli.

On Saturday night, Kysaiah Pickett torched the Saints in the best game of his short career.

It included a piece of second-term magic which saw Pickett spin and swerve past four opponents to snap through a gem on his left foot from 25m.

Kysaiah Pickett lit up Marvel Stadium against the Saints. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

In the fourth, he added another from even further out when he launched one on the right foot with a 40m snap.

In all, Pickett had nine score involvements and 17 possessions as the Demons posted a confidence-boosting 18-point win to give the club a chance to notch three-straight victories against GWS Giants this weekend to start the season.

What the breakout party at Marvel Stadium on Saturday night confirmed is that the electric goal kicker is going to finish his career with some sort of highlight reel.
And it was the Kangaroos who could have taken the 170cm Pickett, but instead off-loaded the first-round selection to the Demons in a three-for-one deal.

The Roos handed over pick eight to the Demons for Melbourne’s future first-round pick from the 2020 draft which they used on encouraging youngster Tom Powell as well as picks 25 and 50 in the 2019 draft.

The Demons then swapped pick eight in a deal with Fremantle, which saw the Dees slide down several spots where Pickett was still waiting for them at pick 12.

It's official. Kysaiah Pickett is a PROBLEM 🔥#AFLSaintsDeespic.twitter.com/1JyhteN834

— AFL (@AFL) March 27, 2021

And no man was more excited than Melbourne recruiting manager Jason Taylor who had tracked Pickett all season knowing he was exactly what the Demons needed to ramp up the pressure at ground level.

Taylor knew Pickett was a wrecking ball. The party tricks were always just an added bonus.

“He will bring excellent ground level play to our forward half in terms of his ability to tackle and hunt the opposition and take the ball at ground level,” Taylor said.

“He’s got really good speed and agility, really good balance – he very rarely goes to ground.”

And Pickett has shown significant resilience and character returning to Melbourne since the passing of his mother over the pre-season.

Pickett celebrating one of his goals against St Kilda. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Pickett, 19, took three weeks personal leave to be with family interstate and continued to train while he was away.

Captain Max Gawn on Sunday praised the youngster for the way he had handled a “very difficult time”.

“Credit to him, he actually went to F45 every day for four weeks at 6am in Adelaide where he was based and trained with Woodville-West Torrens and did everything he could to get up for Round 1,” Gawn said.

“Obviously he was coming in off no pre-season games.

“But he has come in and played two pretty good games of footy, so I’m genuinely excited for what Kozzie can bring in the future.”

Originally published as AFL 2021: The pick swap that saw Kysaiah Pickett arrive at Melbourne Demons