Jack Higgins says Glenn Maxwell’s fielding inspired his spectacular Goal of the Year contender

RICHMOND CEO Brendon Gale said it was a lesson “they don’t teach in VCE” but the man himself said another MCG fan favourite inspired his spectacular Goal of the Year contender.

Jack Higgins goal of the century. Picture: Michael Klein

IT might well be the ‘snag’ of the season, but was it legal?

As it stands right now, that’s academic, because Jack Higgins’s extraordinary circus-act performance on the goal-line at the Punt Rd end midway through the third term was one of the more extraordinary goals you will ever see.

Brendon Gale said it was a lesson “they don’t teach in VCE”, Damien Hardwick called one of the most spectacular things he had seen and Nathan Buckley called it a clever act, though questioned whether it was within the rules.

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Higgins, as energetic and effervescent as ever, said he used Glenn Maxwell as his inspiration, having watched the Australian cricketer somehow keep the white ball alive with his boundary line theatrics.

“If it happened another 100 times, I probably wouldn’t have thought of doing that again,” the 19-year-old livewire said after the match.

“I was sort of running out (of play) and I took the ball and nearly went into the post.

“I sort of thought of Glenn Maxwell, so I tried to keep it in play.

Jack Higgins passes the ball around the goal post. Picture: Michael Klein

Jack Higgins kicks an amazing goal. Picture: Michael Klein

Jack Higgins kicks an amazing goal. Picture: Michael Klein

“Because I was at the MCG, I saw the crowd, and I just thought ‘Screw it, I am going to do it’.”

Maxwell’s one-day heroics - taking grasp of the ball, throwing it back into play, before completing the catch - has clearly made an impression on the sports-obsessed Higgins, though he maintained he didn’t throw the ball.

He says he let go of the Sherrin, flung his foot out at it, sneaking through what could be Goal of the Year.

“I didn’t think it was a throw,” he said. “But I think they (Collingwood) thought it was.

“I thought they were calling for the (goal) review.”

Buckley had a question mark on whether it should have been a goal, saying: “I don’t know the rule, is it a throw? Can you follow it up?”

Hardwick admitted the Tigers weren’t sure in the coaches’ box, but said Higgins’ ingenious act showed why he is “a pleasure to coach.’

Jack Higgins and Dylan Grimes lead Richmond off the MCG.

“We were sitting here trying to figure it out (whether it was a goal),” the Tigers coach said.

“It was quite funny to watch the reaction of the Collingwood players, they weren’t sure whether they were checking whether it’s a throw or a behind.”

“We were probably a little bit puzzled ourselves, but that’s the idiosyncrasies of the game in a way.

“He walks in with a smile on his face about three hours before the game. You watch him walk out – he’s walking out with a smile on his face three hours after the game. He’s only scratching the surface of what he can become, which really excites us.”

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There were other big moments; the double handball dish-off goals to Jayden Short in the opening quarter that left Nathan Buckley fuming and Travis Varcoe looking for a place to hide, Dustin Martin shoving and wrestling his way to three goals and more injury heartache for a brave but beaten Collingwood, with Matt Scharenberg appearing to have done a third ACL and Jeremy Howe concussed with friendly fire.

But Higgins’ masterstroke showed the value of instinct, which helped break apart a bruising battle between two old foes who have kick-started a rivalry renaissance.

Higgins famously admitted that school wasn’t for him but in that split-second moment he showed the footy smarts that very few footballers possess.

As he prepared to leave the rooms, Higgins still wore that beaming, infectious smile, keen for another look at the goal to see what all the fuss was about.

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