No back-up plan needed for Eagle Scott Lycett as he overcomes the doubters and the loss of a great mate to fulfil his AFL dream
SOUTH Australian country boy Scott Lycett has had to overcome personal heartbreak to play in Saturday’s AFL preliminary final for West Coast against Melbourne.
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A “MAN MOUNTAIN’’ of a kid, laid-back South Australian country boy Scott Lycett told his parents at age 14 that he wanted to be an AFL player.
“And we said it would probably be a good idea to have a back-up plan because football doesn’t always work out,’’ mum Karen recalled.
“We (Karen and husband Ron) were always Scott’s harshest critics and wanted him to not put all his eggs into one basket.
“People would say he’s going to go places with his football and we’d be like, ‘really?’
“While he has a casual personality, Scott is very passionate and determined about what he does and he put his heart and soul into his football and he’s deserved everything he's got.’’
Lycett, now 25, is just one win with West Coast away — against Melbourne at Perth Stadium on Saturday — from playing in an AFL grand final.
Eleven years after making his country league debut for Far West League club Thevenard as a 14-year-old — and just weeks later telling his parents he wanted to focus on an AFL career — the 203cm ruckman has enjoyed a career-best season that has him on track to play on the famous MCG on the last Saturday in September.
“There is still some work to do but at he moment my heart is just bursting with pride for Scott,’’ said Karen, who flew to Perth to watch the Eagles’ thrilling qualifying final win against Collingwood.
“It hasn’t been an easy journey for him — he's had to overcome some obstacles along the way — but he’s had a good year and hopefully there is a good ending to the season for him and the club.’’
One obstacle stands head and shoulders above the rest.
In his draft year in 2010, Lycett had his heart ripped out when his best friend and Henley High School classmate Corey Siemers was killed in a car accident.
Two hours after chatting on the phone to him and vowing to “catch up’’ later that night, Lycett got the call that would change him forever and had him briefly contemplate giving football away.
“I was watching a movie at the home of another really close mate, (former West Adelaide footballer) Drew Gallard, when a friend rang and said he’d heard that Corey had been in a car accident and had been taken to hospital,’’ Lycett told The Advertiser prior to his drafting by the Eagles at pick 29 in 2010.
“At first we couldn’t believe it, but we found out what hospital he was in (Flinders) and drove straight there. On the way to the hospital Drew and I were shaking our heads thinking it couldn’t be real, that Corey couldn’t be seriously hurt.
``But when we got to the hospital and asked for Corey, a nurse pulled us into a room and said he had passed away.
``It was devastating. He was my best mate. We shared a special bond and he didn’t deserve to be taken so early.’’
Lycett, then 17, was in the middle of South Australia’s under-18s national championships campaign.
“After Corey’s death the last thing I wanted to do was play football,’’ he said.
“But I asked myself what Corey would want me to do and I’ve got no doubt it would have been to keep playing. So I did it out of respect for him as much as anything else.’’
In a testament to his character, in the final week of the championships Lycett flew to Melbourne with his state teammates on the Friday to play against Tasmania, returned to Adelaide straight after the game on the Saturday, drove to Siemers’ home town of Barmera on the Sunday and delivered a eulogy at his funeral on the Monday.
He drove back to Adelaide that night and was on a plane bound for Melbourne on Tuesday before bravely donning the red SA jumper and being a key player in its shock four-point win against eventual champions Vic Country in Geelong the next day.
``It was the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through,’’ Lycett said.
“Losing Corey was really tough because he was such a great guy and we’d moved to Adelaide from the country for the same reason — to give ourselves a chance of playing in the AFL.
“We had a lot in common and were really good mates and he didn’t deserve what happened to him.’’
Karen described Lycett’s draft year as “very traumatic’’.
“At that stage, being so young, he had not had to deal with anybody close to him passing away,’’ she said.
“It was very tough for Scott but he had a good support network around him and was able to cope.
“But he was very close to Corey so it is something that I’m sure is always on his mind.’’
Like Lycett, Siemers was touted as an AFL draft prospect.
Lycett’s dad said the car accident “devastated him’’.
“He wondered whether he’d even play again,’’ said Ron, a long-time country footballer who played into his late 40s.
“But then he decided his mate wouldn’t want him to quit, and he’s playing for him now. It’s made him more determined.’’
Lycett’s under-18 State coach Brenton Phillips, who is now State talent manager, recalled just how cut up his star big man was.
“Any time you lose a close friend or a relative in those circumstances it is really difficult to grasp,’’ Phillips said.
“As a team we gave him as much space as he needed, some time to grieve, but he wanted to come back into the team pretty quickly.
“Football is a controlled environment and I think that was good for Scott at that time.
“There were a number of boys in our group from the Henley High program that were heavily affected (including Adelaide’s Brodie Smith and Port Adelaide’s Jared Polec) and it was a credit to Scott’s character the way he came out the other end of that so well.
“He showed outstanding maturity and it probably strengthened him to a degree, gave him a little more resolve.’’
Born in Ceduna — the oyster capital of Australia on western Eyre Peninsula — Lycett spent his early years living in various country towns, including Burra and Smoky Bay, as his parents worked in the hotel industry.
Karen recalls her middle sibling — Scott has an older sister, Jacinta, 26, and younger brother, Kristopher, 24 — playing his first competitive match for Burra at age eight.
Showcasing great skills and agility for a young ruckman, it wasn't long before Port — which had recruiting rights to the Eyre Peninsula zone — identified him as a “future talent’’, invited him to join its academy squads and flew him from Ceduna to Adelaide to play games.
Lycett made his league debut for Thevenard at 14 and — in consultation with the Magpies — moved to Adelaide in Year 11 to join Henley’s famed school football program.
“Rather than continue to have to hop on planes or make the long drive to Adelaide we thought it would be best for him to go to school in the city,’’ Karen said.
“We had discussions with colleges but weren’t in a financial situation to be able to afford that and the other downside was that we wanted Scott to be able to play with the Magpies on Saturdays rather than be locked into college football.
“Henley was able to provide that (it plays its matches midweek) and with Port helping to subsidise the costs of school and his accommodation he was able to make the move.’’
Lycett lived with Henley student and fellow country boy Sam Gray, from Rudall Eastern Ranges, who he had struck up a close friendship with at the Magpies.
Both were in the State under-age program and Phillips recalls the pair being “inseparable’’.
“It is amazing in my many years involvement in football how often a ruckman tends to partner up and become really good mates with a rover — a big bloke and a little bloke together,’’ Phillips said.
“That was the case with Scott and Sam. They were always knocking around together and it was quite funny watching them bounce off each other all the time.’’
Gray was drafted by the Power at pick 29 at the 2014 rookie draft and is still one of Lycett’s best friends.
Phillips said his first recollection of Lycett “is that he was a mountain of a young man’’.
“He was huge, he towered above most of the team, but he wasn’t just a tap ruckman or a
mark and kick player,’’ he said.
“One of the things that stood out to me about Scott was that he had the attributes of a running player.
“At junior level he was very much a link player who had a good work ethic and liked to be involved in the team’s ball movement.
“I always thought he was a rover trapped in a ruckman’s body.’’
Lycett, who toured South Africa with the AIS Academy in 2009, made an instant impression on then Magpies senior coach Tony Bamford, who now coaches the State under-18s.
“Scott stood out to us because he was tall and was still able to move around the ground like a small,’’ Bamford said.
“He had really good mobility, could mark it whether he was playing forward or ruck and he was competitive — he really hated losing.
“With most talls at that age it takes a while for them to get that killer instinct but Scott was driven like that from the start.’’
Bamford said before Lycett and Gray moved to Adelaide permanently they would often stay at his house when flying over on weekends to play for the Pies.
“I’d put them in my spare room together because they were as thick as thieves,’’ he said.
“Sometimes you get a teenager over who will be really quiet and sit in the loungeroom and not say boo but Scott was really communicative.
“He never had an issue having a conversation with an adult or a coach, he was very comfortable in that space which was a testament to his parents and the way they brought him up.’’
Henley manager of sport and major events James Treagus remembers Lycett as being “a really personable student who was popular with his peers and able to develop a really good relationship with staff’’.
“He worked really hard on his football, that was obviously a priority for him, but he still had a positive approach to his schooling,’’ Treagus said.
“He saw being a part of the program at Henley as something that would help him reach his goals.
“He was part of a really talented and focused group who were all pushing to get the most out of their football (Henley won the public schools football competition) and reach AFL level and he never got ahead of himself in terms of thinking his job was done.’’
Lycett’s sister was a talented netballer and joined him at Henley, where she was a part of the specialist netball program and played for premier league club Contax.
But, according to Karen, she got homesick and returned to Smoky Bay after one year at school.
Kristopher was a talented footballer like his brother, played juniors with the Magpies and was on the radar of AFL clubs.
But he lost interest and gave the game away.
“Kristopher had potential but chose not to go down that road,’’ Karen said.
“He stopped playing at 18 and now works in hospitality in Adelaide.’’
A surprise draft slider when he fell to 29 in 2010 after he had been expected to be taken in the first round, Lycett was initially “extremely homesick’’ living in Perth, according to Karen.
“It was a tough start for Scott at West Coast,’’ she said.
“The initial excitement of being drafted was replaced by homesickness and he struggled with that for a while.
“But the Eagles were brilliant and his host family, Joe and Pina Tarantola, were fantastic to Scott, they looked after him and helped put our minds at ease.
“In the end Scott was so well looked after that he stayed living with them for four-and-a-half years. They love him dearly and are still a big part of his life.’’
After playing just 50 games in his first seven years at West Coast because of injury and having two star ruckmen in front of him — now-retired six-times All-Australian Dean Cox and 2008 No. 2 draft pick Nic Naitanui — Lycett has this season enjoyed the most productive campaign of his eight-year AFL career.
He has played a career-high 23 games and carried the ruck in the past two months in the absence of Naitanui, who ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in round 17.
Lycett’s family will be in Perth to watch Saturday's preliminary final against Melbourne.
“It’s exciting,’’ Karen said.
“Our family is a mixed bag of supporters — I grew up barracking for Carlton, Kris supports Essendon, Scott was Brisbane, Ronny is Geelong and Jacinta is Fremantle — but obviously we’re all on the West Coast bandwagon this weekend.’’
Lycett is out of contract at the end of the season and has been strongly linked with a return home to Port Adelaide.
But Karen, who lives with Ron at Flinders Park but manages a hotel at Wudinna on the central Eyre Peninsula — “so we are out of town most of the time anyway,’’ she said — is keeping mum on the subject.
“I don’t know what he’s going to do,’’ she said.
“Scott just wants to concentrate on the finals and then address his future, so we’ll see what happens.’’
andrew.capel@news.com.au
SA BOYS IN SEPTEMBER
Scott Lycett
Club: West Coast.
Born: September 26, 1992.
Height: 203cm. Weight: 101kg.
Birthplace: Ceduna.
High School: Henley.
Junior club: Thevenard (SA)
SANFL club: Port Adelaide.
Drafted into AFL: By West Coast at pick 29 at 2010 national draft.
Originally published as No back-up plan needed for Eagle Scott Lycett as he overcomes the doubters and the loss of a great mate to fulfil his AFL dream
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