Source :- THE AGE NEWS
The Melbourne Football Club is Kysaiah Pickett’s “home away from home”. He loves the club, and the club loves him. Pickett the footballer could not be happier.
Home for Pickett, though, is not Melbourne. It’s more than 3000 kilometres away on the other side of the country in Quairading, a town in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt region about one-and-a-half hours’ drive out of Perth.
Kysaiah Pickett with his dad, Kevin Kropinyeri, who designed the Demons’ Indigenous jumper.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Pickett spoke of the significance of home in a documentary produced by the Demons of the visit he made in May last year to introduce his first baby Belleny to his extended family. It’s where he grew up until he moved back to South Australia to complete his education.
“That’s where I spent most of my childhood,” Pickett told this masthead. “I’ve got a lot of memories there. My home, all my family still live there. My home, my safe space.”
The AFL’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round has given Pickett, from Yamatji Noongar on his mother’s side and Ngarrindjeri through his father, the chance to celebrate his heritage through football.
There is extra meaning this year. His father, the comedian, sculptor and artist Kevin Kropinyeri, designed the Demons’ Indigenous guernsey.
Simon Goodwin and Kysaiah Pickett embrace after the Demons’ drought-breaking win against Fremantle in round six.Credit: AFL Photos
The shield represents both the traditional Ngarrindjeri warriors, Kropinyeri said, and past, present and future players – “the warriors of the Melbourne Football Club”. The weaving design symbolises the love of the club and the Ngarrindjeri text, “YARN MAWUN WUNNAMURKAKUL PROLIN AMBE NGARIMATINLINY AMBI” translates to, “All hearts beat true for the red and the blue”. The Ngarrindjeri do not have a word for “every”, but do have one for “all”.
The message is pertinent for Pickett, whose playing future at Melbourne has been the subject of speculation since he expressed his homesickness to coach Simon Goodwin at his exit meeting last year.
In a challenging season for the Demons, Pickett has been one of the club’s few success stories on the field. One of the game’s best small forwards, Pickett has thrived on extra responsibilities in the midfield.
He leads the club’s goalkicking list while his average of 3.5 clearances a game puts him ahead of the club’s midfield stalwart Jack Viney and just behind Christian Petracca. The 23-year-old’s signature will be highly sought after between now and the end of 2027 when his contract expires.
Pickett’s connection to home and the club where he has become a favourite among teammates and fans is apparent in an interview he and his father gave to this masthead to mark the league’s celebrations of Indigenous culture in the game.
“There’s always homesickness,” Pickett said. “Anyone who’s from interstate, they’re always homesick, they always think about going home. I have honest conversations with Goody and [I’ve] been able to tell him I’m homesick, but there’s never really any talk about leaving at the moment.”
His father provides context around Pickett’s homesickness.
“Being homesick is a cultural thing,” Kropinyeri said. “I lived 16 years in Victoria. I was only five, five-and-a-half, six hours away from home. I lived here, but I’m not from here.
“And when you look at the cultural perspective, like 250 Aboriginal nations around Australia is like a mini Africa, like you’re living on the continent. You do want to be around your people but what I’ve seen with Kozzy is the joy come back. The joy is there. He’s enjoying himself. He’s happy. He’s settled at home. He’s playing some good footy for Melbourne, and we both love this club.”
After a brief pause to think, in contrast to the spontaneous manner in which he plays his football, Pickett explains the joy had never left his game but being suspended had hurt.
Pickett and Goodwin have a tight bond. The coach, along with Clayton Oliver, Shane McAdam and the club’s Indigenous projects officer Matthew Whelan, accompanied Pickett in the trip home to Quairading last year. When the Demons play in Perth, Pickett has the coach’s blessing to stay longer to visit family.
High five: Pickett insists his focus is only on the Demons and not a potential move home to WA at the end of the season.Credit: Getty Images
“We’ve got a pretty close relationship,” Pickett said. “We’ve had a lot of honest conversations and all that and he’s supported me a lot.
“Like when we play away, when we play home [in WA], I get to stay a few days, get to go early to spend time with my family during the week. If I’m not feeling up to it, he’ll let me stay home. He’s a very supportive coach. And I just love him for that.
“I think I proved to him that I can work hard away from the club and I’ve been able to earn his trust since a young age.”
Asked where he sees himself living after football, Pickett, again, does not answer immediately.
“I don’t really know yet, I haven’t really thought that far ahead,” Pickett said.
Pickett’s love for the Demons is genuine. He describes the club that drafted him as a 19-year-old and nurtured him through living away from family in a foreign state as “another home away from home”. His father, whose surname he has on his birth certificate and driver’s licence, also speaks fondly of the Demons.
Pickett’s dad, Kevin Kropinyeri, explains the meaning of homesickness in Indigenous culture.Credit: Chris Hopkins
“The treatment of my son at this club has been amazing,” Kropinyeri said. “Their love, understanding. Then you got Matty Whelan, who comes in, helps him out with any type of Aboriginal perspectives here.
“I get a real family atmosphere, and they have loved and treated my son very well. If you’re loving my son well, then you’ve got my love and respect.”
Gestures like inviting his father to design their Indigenous jumper cannot hurt to fortify the bond between Pickett and Melbourne.
“I get to run out there wearing his jersey. I get to represent him, my family, all Aboriginal culture,” Pickett said. “For him to be able to put his design on a jersey and my whole team to wear, it is very special.”
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