'Hopefully many more': Jacob van Rooyen's plea to wantaway Demon Kysaiah Pickett
Updated . First published at
Fellow Melbourne forward Jacob van Rooyen admits he hopes teammate Kysaiah Pickett will stick fat with the club, despite the goalsneak admitting he was homesick.
Pickett was linked to a trade to WA, but nothing came of it in the 2024 off season.
Van Rooyen's plea came after Pickett opened up on his status at the Demons, ahead of the AFL's Indigenous All Stars game.
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"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 earlier in the week.
"We always have open and honest conversations."
Simon Goodwin, Senior Coach of the Demons embraces Kysaiah Pickett. Getty
Pickett also declared that opening up on his vulnerability and homesickness has improved his relationship with Demons stakeholders.
"To be able to express myself and express my homesickness as a part of that relationships means we're pretty close," he said.
Pickett resparked trade speculation after he liked a comment on a Fremantle fan Facebook group, which alluded to a ploy to land the Demon at the club next season, following the signing of his cousin Isiah Dudley.
His interest in a move west has also been linked to the recent moves of friends Shai Bolton and Quinton Narkle, who left Richmond and Port Adelaide respectively to head to WA in the trade period.
Kysaiah Pickett and Jacob van Rooyen of the Demons celebrate a goal. Getty
But van Rooyen remains hopeful that the young premiership forward will consider staying with the club, despite a tumultuous 2024 season on and off field.
"We all love 'Kozzie' so much, he's a generational player, one of a kind," van Rooyen said on Friday.
"Yeah, we all love him and he's contracted – I am keen to play with him this year and hopefully many more."
But van Rooyen, who hails from Perth, understands the pull to be close to family and the struggle of being isolated away from home.
"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," he said.
"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."
As for the external noise surrounding the club's cultural problems, van Rooyen declared the playing group are pushing ahead to round one duties.
"Inside the club, we know we have something strong going, you kind of stick to what you know," he said.
Melbourne play host to GWS at the MCG in round one on Sunday 16 March.
