Marlion Pickett opens up on his ‘raw’ personal journey on his way to a second Grand Final within 20 games

And if a young Marlion Pickett was to be told that just over 10 years after first finding himself in serious trouble with the law he’d be a role model for Indigenous youth and preparing for his second AFL Grand Final, his response would have been a simple one. “I probably would have laughed and said, ‘you’re dreamin’,” Pickett said this week. “I’ve come a long way as a person, and as a father.” And as a player. The 28-year-old is aiming for two AFL flags within 20 games. It’s a long way from Manjimup, where he was born, and a world away from Wooroloo Prison Farm and the strict Acacia Prison, where he served time in his late-teens and early 20s. There’d been an upbringing where at times he went to school hungry. As he grew older, there were fights. Theft. Drug use and dealing, at times. Family tragedies, too, as he details in his autobiography, Belief, in which the Tiger opens up more than ever before and will be released on November 1 having been written with author Dave Warner completely via Zoom during football’s shutdown earlier this year. It’s a “raw” story, Pickett admits. But it’s one he owns. It’s part of him. “It was definitely tough (to revisit some of the memories),” Pickett told the Herald Sun this week. “I got it out there, and I’m proud of what I’ve overcome and all of the things that my family and I had to go through just to make it where I am now. “Every situation is different, and I was lucky. “I got out of prison and had six years in the WAFL and was drafted at 27 – you could hardly see that (happening). “I just really wanted to express my story, and how far I’ve come and grown as a person and how much that I’ve been through in overcoming adversity. “It was really just about getting my story out there and giving a raw feel of some of the situations that we and some other families go through. “I’ve owned up to what I’ve done in the past. Putting my story out there, hopefully it can help some younger fellas that are in a similar situation. “I own up to everything I do right or wrong. It’s not worth shying away from it.” The father of four – whose children and partner Jess have spent not only those years of his incarceration and football rise by his side, but all but 10 days of this season’s Queensland quarantine alongside him, too – mentors Indigenous youth and will soon travel back to Perth where he intends to make several visits to his former prison. “I just want to check on the boys and how they’ve been going in the COVID restrictions – they couldn’t have any visitors or anything for a while there,” he said. He also works as part of the club’s Korin Gamadji Institute which serves to support education and employment pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, keeping up his commitments via Zoom while in the Tigers’ Queensland hub. He’s proud of how far he’s come, and believes if sharing his story can help even one Indigenous youth change their path, it will be worthwhile. His greatest concern for young men in prison is when they get out – just as he did, walking virtually straight to South Fremantle to begin his WAFL career and path to AFL. “It’s doing the right thing while you’re in prison, and when you get out that there’s nothing actually out there for you,” Pickett said. “After you do all the courses and everything else when you do get out, it’s easy to fall back into the same crew of mates you hang around with. I think the prisons need to help you when you do get out, finding a job and stuff.” After prevailing in last year’s Grand Final in his first-ever AFL game, this year has been markedly different. He has played another 18, including all three lead-up finals, and in typically humble fashion – feels almost bad about it. He wants any kudos on Saturday to be shared. “I’ve been lucky enough to play the majority of the games, which I kind of think is a bit sad for the younger fellas, and I feel a bit guilty for playing as many games as I did (this season),” Pickett said. “I’m just that type of fella – I like to see some of the younger generation force me out of my spot and keep me going. I feel sorry for the guys that haven’t played this year. “It’s been a big, long year and I just wish some of them had had a game. “They do a lot of work in the background and they make sure that the team that’s playing is at their best, and they really push us in our training. “I’m just grateful that I got the opportunity to play one AFL game, not two Grand Finals. I’m trying not to get ahead of myself. It’s just taking every game as if it’s my last.” His father, who suffers from emphysema, will be watching on from Perth, Pickett having given his dad last year’s premiership medal to take home to WA. If last year’s victory was for Thomas, this year would be for Jessica. “She’s been with me through my ups and downs, and for my kids for being on the journey along with me,” Pickett said, his voice shifting as he lauded his love. “She got me through the prison. She made me become a better man and a better father. All the credit is for her. “It’s for everyone that believed in me.” BELIEF, published by Simon & Schuster Australia, is available in hardback, ebook and audio from November 1 HOW PICKETT ALMOST LEFT TIGERS HUB Richmond premiership hero Marlion Pickett has declared a second flag within 20 games would be the ultimate validation following football’s most trying season. Pickett, 28, revealed he had all but quit social media this year after a raft of derogatory messages about his place in the team began affecting him mentally. The Tigers’ 2019 fairytale story is endeavouring to add a second Grand Final victory to his name after sensationally making his AFL debut in last year’s decider. He has played a further 18 games this season, with his stoic partner and “rock” Jess and their young family joining him in the team’s Queensland hub. But it hasn’t all been easy, with family grief – including the funeral of his uncle, Mark, on the day of Richmond’s qualifying final loss to Brisbane – and personal struggles throughout the year as he made the transition from finals sensation to fixture in the Richmond outfit. “There’s been a lot of criticism on social media and web pages and stuff,” Pickett told the Herald Sun. “I wasn’t really a fan of it, but I’m trying to stay off it now, because I just play my role in the team system. Outside of the footy club, people don’t know what our role is. “People wishing you’d get dropped, getting messages saying, ‘hope you’re telling the coaches that you’re not playing’ because you had a bad game. “I’m talking to people to help me through it, and they give me advice to stay off social media and not read into any of that stuff. But it’s a bit hard when you’ve got people messaging you, some of the fans of Richmond and stuff, but it is what it is.” Pickett’s struggles were highlighted earlier this year when it was reported that he was on a second-year rookie wage at a time when players agreed to take a 50 per cent pay cut to help save the game during the COVID-19 crisis. But the tough Tiger said this year was all about Saturday night. Pickett, a proud Noongar man, has been spending time with his children in the hub “and occupying myself, trying not to spend too much time on the phone”. He said the playing group had met after teammate Dylan Grimes and his family were subjected to threats during the year — an attack acted upon by Victoria Police. He said he had also consulted with coaches in the wake of the criticism. “Listening to (Grimes’) time experiencing a similar thing, it made me want to listen to them,” he said. “So I’ve been staying off there a bit.” Pickett also said he had come close to booking flights to return to Perth with his family on the eve of the finals series. His father, Thomas, who is fighting lung disease, has been in and out of hospital in recent months, and was released from care on Monday in his most recent fight with illness. But it was a call from his father that convinced Pickett – who attended his dad’s brother’s funeral via Zoom – to keep his second premiership dream alive. “I nearly left the hub to go back and stay with family in Perth,” the Tiger said. “Just to be with my family, because I was a bit worried about my dad. “Family is family. Footy is a job. But family is the most important thing, and No.1 in my life. “I was ready to book my flight, but I spoke to my dad and he was OK, and said to stay there. If it wasn’t for him and that phone call, then I probably would have been back in Perth. “Definitely (glad I stayed).” Pickett said his father – whose first trip on a plane was to Melbourne for last year’s Grand Final – would “100 per cent” be watching on Saturday. “He calls me up before and after the game and always lets me know he’s really proud of me and how far we’ve come,” he said. Pickett and his family will return to Perth immediately after Saturday night’s Grand Final at the Gabba. Having settled in Thornbury before the AFL season upheaval, Pickett joked that he might return to “jungle” in the backyard upon his return to Melbourne. But to claim Saturday’s cup would be worth the lengthy journey. “Being away from home for 100 and something days, you just want to win, hopefully,” he said. “But if not, at least we know that we’ve overcome adversity throughout the year and made it to where we wanted to be. To play in another granny is a really good thing. Not many people make it and play in them, so it’s a good achievement.”