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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.”

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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.

“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.

“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.

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“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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