Liam Picken is carrying on the family tradition, playing in VFL/AFL Grand Finals
LIAM Picken almost gave up on his dream of carrying on a family tradition of playing in VFL/AFL Grand Finals, but he could never quite let it go.
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LIAM Picken almost gave up on his dream of carrying on a family tradition of playing in VFL/AFL Grand Finals, but he could never quite let it go.
It was, after all, in his genes.
Almost 40 years since his father, Bill Picken, played the first of five Grand Finals - for four losses and a draw with Collingwood - and more than a decade after his cousin Jonathan Brown won a hat-trick of flags with Brisbane Lions from four appearances, Liam will finally get his chance to shine on football’s stage.
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And the 30-year-old will do it for the Western Bulldogs in the best form of his AFL career, rejuvenated as a player and ready for the moment.
“Probably a couple of years ago, you wouldn’t have thought this could have happened,” Picken said of his club winning their way through to its first Grand Final in 55 years.
“In saying that, you don’t give up. You can turn things around pretty quickly.”
“The opportunity is there now, but we know Sydney is going to be a ferocious side. They are a fantastic team, so we know it is going to be a tough game.”
Picken has never craved the limelight or sought attention at any stage of his life, not alone his 175-game league career.
His father jokes that he has been that way since he was a kid.
Probably a couple of years ago, you wouldn’t have thought this could have happened ... in saying that, you don’t give up. You can turn things around pretty quickly.
Liam Picken
“He’s a very private person,” Bill Picken said. “He sticks to himself, he has always been that way. His left hand doesn’t tell his right hand what is going on.”
But the former Magpie - and Swan - couldn’t be prouder of his son for the way he has fought for his AFL career - first as a rookie, then as a tagger and now as one of the club’s key players.
“He’s worked hard and I bet he is glad he persevered with it all now,” he said. “I don’t give him any advice, I just ask him how he is going away from footy.”
“When he first came to the Bulldogs they had one of those parents’ nights. I remember Rodney Eade was the coach and he said to the parents not to talk too much about the footy to the young blokes because they get it all day.”
Liam added: “I haven’t really spoken to Dad about it (his Grand Final experiences). He doesn’t get in my ear about football or anything like that, which is good.”
Bill Picken was Collingwood’s best player in two of his five Grand Finals, and was listed as being among the top bracket of players in two others.
“My main memory from those games was the draw in 1977,” he said. “That was the year of the first Grand Final parade, too.
“The feeling after the draw was that no one really knew what to do.”
That won’t happen this year, for the AFL has now made extra time provisions if there is a draw.
And Brown, whose mother is the sister of Liam’s mother, was in the best players in two of the Lions’ four Grand Finals from 2001-2004.
Picken’s form in the Bulldogs’ three finals this season have shown his capacity to get the best out of himself when the stakes are the highest. He has had 23, 24 and 21 disposals in those games, and had kicked five goals this finals series.
“The belief in the group is very strong, even after the Freo loss (in Round 23),” he said. “We’ve just built more momentum over the last few weeks.”
“We are a very tight group. Injuries have gone against us, but it has brought us closer together. We have called on so many players to get us into this position.”
BILL PICKEN IN GRAND FINALS
1977: 17 disposals, 4 marks
1977 Replay: 8 disposals, 2 marks
1979: 19 disposals, 5 marks
1980: 19 goals, 10 marks, 3 goals
1981: 21 disposals, 5 marks
JONATHAN BROWN IN GRAND FINALS
2001: 16 disposals, 5 marks, 2 goals
2002: 14 disposals, 5 marks, 1 goal
2003: 15 disposals, 8 marks, 2 goals
2004: 13 disposals, 6 marks, no goals
LIAM PICKEN IN GRAND FINALS
2016: ?
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