IT happened at Ikon Park in a scratch match on the Thursday night before the season opener. It all seemed pretty innocuous, a stumble over a wayward bootlace, but calamitous for both Jarrod Pickett and for Carlton.
In the lead-up to the Richmond match, Pickett had been in scintillating touch on the back of a solid pre-season and two winning JLT matches – fair to say the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“I turned a little awkwardly during the session and tripped over my own lace,” said Pickett in recalling the moment on March 15.
“I put my hands out to brace my fall and broke the scaphoid and did a few ligaments in my left hand. As soon as it happened I looked at my hand then turned to ‘Bolts’ (senior coach Brendon Bolton) and said ‘I think I’ve broken it here’.
“It was pretty frustrating after copping the foot injury the year before because both injuries were freakish accidents, but none of them involved ligaments so I was happy in that respect.”
Jarrod Pickett was in great form in the JLT Community Series before succumbing to injury. (Photo: AFL Media)
In taking the first fortnight off after the mishap, the 21-year-old Western Australian resisted the obvious temptation to head home to Perth for a breather. With his partner Tahlia working as a gatekeeper on a construction site in Chadstone, he felt it important to lend her his support and it was here that pet dogs Bella and Becky kept him company.
Through it all, the prodigiously-gifted Pickett was able to maintain his running and, more recently, handle the footy again – not that the weeks and months watching on made life any easier.
As he said: “I would have loved to have been out there playing with the boys . . . but it’s a long season and hopefully I can come in and make an impact,” Pickett said.
Ironically, Pickett returns for the Northern Blues v Richmond match at Punt Road on Sunday and the brief is already clear. Wearing a protective cast, he fully intends to get 100 minutes of footy into him and push his case for selection.
“‘Bolts’ wants me to focus on my pressure this week and my running forward,” he said.
“I’ll get that right and then you never know what happens.”
It’s clear that this truly likeable bloke is glass half full. Ask him his views of the Carlton team and the way forward and Pickett positively glows - in keeping with his father’s view of the Blues and the big picture.
As he said: “I was talking to my Dad the other day and he’s been bragging to everyone (about Carlton) . . . ‘Just you just wait and see’ he’s been telling them”.
“‘Bolts’ has a plan in place and the boys believe in it. We want to finish off this year really strong and go into next season with confidence.
“We’re all keeping up our energy around the Club, but we’re not trying to get too high or too low. We’re keeping our heads up and trying to build habits - winning habits.”
In Melbourne, Pickett considers himself truly settled. He and Tahlia have just purchased a place in one of Melbourne’s outer northern suburbs and already he’s savouring the solitude.
“There’s a big park out there, a few kangaroos and it’s always nice to go for a walk . . . I’m settled and I’m happy.”
