From a fairytale to dark clouds: Richmond never saw the arrest of Marlion Pickett coming

When the AFL called Richmond officials midway through last week to inform them that Perth police wanted to speak to Marlion Pickett, the Tigers were stunned. This is what happened next.

How the arrest of Marlion Pickett played out.

Richmond never saw it coming.

When the AFL called Tigers officials midway through last week to inform them that Perth police wanted to speak to Marlion Pickett, they were stunned.

The AFL Integrity Unit had taken the initial call from Midland Police who said they wanted to speak to the Richmond player while he was in Perth to play Fremantle about a string of aggravated burglaries over the summer.

While the details were sketchy, the timeline added up as Pickett spent time back home with his family as he recovered from hand surgery suffered at training in November.

The Tigers spoke to Pickett and his manager, Perth-based Anthony Van Der Wielen, and it was agreed that he needed to focus on the game against Fremantle and that they’d deal with everything else after that. It was also decided that his teammates wouldn’t be told of the pending police interview.

The Tigers, under new coach Andrew McQualter, had kept their season alive with a breakthrough win over the GWS Giants in Sydney the previous week.

They still had a sniff and didn’t need any unnecessary distraction while Pickett’s role in the team was also crucial against the Dockers.

What had thrown the Tigers’ hierarchy was despite his much-celebrated history, which included a jail stint more than a decade ago, Pickett was almost the last person they expected to be back on the wrong side of the law.

Marlion Pickett outside Perth Magistrates Court after being arrested. Picture: Philip Gostelow

Since he first arrived at Richmond via the mid-season draft in 2019, he had become a much-loved servant on and off the field.

His redemption story is straight out of a Hollywood script and has already been made into a book given his first AFL game, at the age of 27, was in the 2019 grand final.

Pickett became the first VFL/AFL player in 67 years to debut in a grand final and the first since 1926 to win a flag in his first match.

The moment when he kicked a goal in the third quarter against the Giants is still referred to by those who were there as one of the loudest roars they’d ever heard at the MCG.

A finger injury had delayed the start of his career with the Tigers after he was plucked out of the WAFL where he’d rebuilt his life at South Fremantle, making the West Australian state team and finishing third in the best and fairest in 2018.

He’d taken the place of his good friend Tim Kelly in the midfield after he got his long-awaited shot as a mature aged recruit in the AFL with Geelong.

Pickett was a clear standout in the WAFL and while Gold Coast thought long and hard about taking him – his dubious past scared them off – the Tigers were coming off premiership success in 2017 and were more than prepared to take a risk.

The week before the 2019 AFL grand final, Pickett had starred in Richmond’s VFL premiership victory, winning the medal for the best player on the ground.

And with a spot in the grand final team open after Jack Graham injured his shoulder in the preliminary final, Damien Hardwick had no hesitation in picking Pickett and putting in motion one of football’s greatest feel good stories.

Marlion Pickett dominated during his time in the WAFL.

Twelve months later Pickett won his second premiership and had quickly established himself as a leader at Punt Rd. While he’d only been there for a short time, the Tigers other Indigenous players, including rising stars Shai Bolton and Daniel Rioli, were already looking up to him.

He started working at the club’s Korin Gamadji Institute where he became an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth ambassador as he settled into a quiet life in Melbourne with his partner Jessica Nannup and four young children.

After earning just $85,000 as a rookie and then having his pay cut during the Covid lockdown, Pickett went from having to apply to the AFL for financial hardship assistance to rolling in cash thanks to a two-year deal in 2020 worth around $1 million.

He then signed a contract extension to include 2023 with triggers in terms of games played – he has two games to go – to get him a fresh deal for 2024.

So when he ventured home in December, Pickett’s life was seemingly in a good space. What happened in it over the Christmas and New Year break is something that probably won’t be known in full detail for some time.

The police gave Pickett their version of events last Sunday when he walked into Midland Police Station following the Tigers win over Fremantle and sat down with major crime detectives. What happened next again caught Richmond by surprise.

They thought he was just assisting with an investigation, instead the Tigers star was arrested on the spot and hit with 12 charges including stealing, criminal damage to a property and aggravated burglary.

As his family and teammates flew back to Victoria, Pickett spent the night in jail before facing a magistrate on Monday morning where he was freed after securing a $50,000 bail and depositing a further $50,000 surety.

Marlion Pickett returned to training this week. Picture: Michael Klein

Police alleged Pickett and his brother-in-law, along with four other co-accused, stole more than $380,000 in a spate of commercial burglaries and hired a campervan to move the money across the country.

The circumstantial evidence against Pickett included his phone having “pinged” near one of the burglary locations at the time the offence was being committed. It was also alleged the campervan used to transfer the money interstate was rented in his name and that he purchased clothing worn by the offenders.

Pickett then allegedly received payments of $6000 and $9000 into his bank account.

The news of his arrest shocked the football world and as one person who had seen Pickett’s life turnaround from close range said: “It is the most unfathomable, unbelievable thing you can imagine.

“But none of us would understand the depths of the journey and the challenges, the resilience he showed to get where he did. He has dealt with some awful stuff.”

Whether he fell back in with the wrong crowd from his teenage years is one theory or there was pressure to help out his extended family which in Indigenous culture comes before anything else.

There has been talk of outlaw motorbike gangs being involved and that the spree over December and January in which police have implicated Pickett is only the tip of the iceberg of a far bigger and more widespread operation.

As a teenager Pickett had run-ins with police and then soon after his 18th birthday, he began using methamphetamine and committed a series of burglaries and robberies to fund the habit.

He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in Perth’s hardcore Acacia Prison after being found guilty of 17 counts of burglary and one count of aggravated burglary.

Marlion Pickett celebrates with the 2019 premiership cup. Picture: AAP Images

In a rare interview in the Herald Sun two years ago Pickett opened up about his troubled upbringing.

When asked what advice he would give a 15-year-old version of himself, he said: “I’d say, if someone was looking to give you some advice, then take a seat and have a listen – and then it’s up to you if you want to make a change in your life.

“Prison is different. You might think it’s fun and games while you’re a teenager but the adult system is a lot different to the kids’ prisons. You see a lot of things in there that you don’t want to see, and it kind of changes you a bit.

“I didn’t really have anyone to give me that advice.

”It woke me up and changed my perspective on who my true friends were because I didn’t really have anyone apart from my missus come and visit me.

“We all change, but if you really want to change you’ve got to do it for yourself and I had something (family and footy) to change for.

“I didn’t really want my kids growing up and doing the same things that I’d done.”

Those heartfelt statements are why so many at Richmond are reeling from the events of the past week. They can’t get their heads around it - the players were called to an urgent Sunday night meeting where they were informed - but have rallied around their embattled midfielder.

After consultation with the AFL, the Tigers decided it was best to rest Pickett from Saturday night’s game against St Kilda with the bye the following week allowing him extra time to get his head right.

His bail conditions allow him to continue playing and Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said as far as the club was concerned Pickett is innocent until proven otherwise.

Premiership captain Trent Cotchin gave an insight into the players’ feelings on Thursday when Pickett returned to training at Punt Rd.

“We love Marlion for who he is and what he brings to our footy club, and we‘ll be right behind him,” Cotchin said. “He’s such an important part of our footy club and our team.

“What he brings is really special from a leadership point of view, not just Indigenous boys but our whole group.

“Knowing the person that Marlion is, he’ll stay strong and we’ll be right behind him.”

The next court date is in August and the matter could drag on for even longer. Sadly, as will the dark cloud which is now hanging over one of the game’s great modern-day fairytales.