Melbourne forward Jacob Van Rooyen plea to see Kysaiah Pickett ‘for many more’ years

A Melbourne teammate hopes to see the admittedly homesick Kysaiah Pickett at his feet for ‘many more’ seasons.

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 04: Kysaiah Pickett is seen with Jacob van Rooyen of the Demons during the 2024 AFL Round 04 match between the Adelaide Crows and the Melbourne Demons at Adelaide Oval on April 04, 2024 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Melbourne forward Jacob van Rooyen hopes star teammate Kysaiah Pickett stays a Demon “this year and hopefully many more” despite Pickett’s admission of homesickness.

Speaking to media ahead of the Indigenous All Stars game, Pickett was questioned at length about the speculation of his desire to move to Western Australia.

Pickett doubled down on his contract status before conceding homesickness was a factor.

“Being away in Melbourne, there’s always a bit of homesickness but I’m still contracted and I have to do my time there (at Melbourne),” Pickett said.

“We always have open and honest conversations. To be able to express myself and express my homesickness as a part of that relationships means we’re pretty close.“

van Rooyen, also from Western Australia, says Pickett is among a network of WA boys at Melbourne which help each other ease homesickness.

“We all love ‘Kozzie’ so much, he’s a generational player, one of a kind,” he said.

Jacob van Rooyen (r) hopes ‘Kozzie’ Pickett stays a Demon despite his admission of homesickness.(Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“Yeah, we all love him and he’s contracted – I am keen to play with him this year and hopefully many more.

“It’s part of it, I am a Perth boy myself and I think building a strong network here, Kozzie has a lot of friends and family over here.

“I think he’s built a strong network over here, just like I have myself … we all have strong connections over here which makes it a lot easier.

“You definitely do (lean on each other), for sure, there’s time where we do talk about home, this and that but being here together definitely helps.”

Melbourne has been the target of consistent external noise over the past year, with Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, Steven May and now Pickett under the spotlight for various different reasons.

van Rooyen believes the noise is amplified outside of the club and is confident the 2025 group has “something strong going”.

“At times you can hear things from the outside but I am always confident on the group we’ve got, the external noise is probably over exaggerated,” he said.

“Inside the club, we know we have something strong going, you kind of stick to what you know.”

Originally published as Melbourne forward Jacob Van Rooyen plea to see Kysaiah Pickett ‘for many more’ years