From Rookie To Premiership Hero: A Tribute To The Career Of Liam Picken
- Alex Docherty
- Apr 3, 2019
- 8 min read
March 3rd, 2018. A practice match between the Western Bulldogs and Hawthorn in Mars Stadium, Ballarat is currently going on. It's late in the third quarter and the ball is pumped inside 50 for the Bulldogs. Liam Picken, on the back of a solid end to 2017 runs back with the flight to contest in a pack of four other players. He's collected by the hip of team mate Josh Dunkley and hits the turf hard. He lays motionless for what feels like an eternity. He is stretchered off by the club doctors. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, this was the last time he would grace the football field as not just a Western Bulldog, but an AFL player. Picken announced his retirement on the first day of April this year – it sounded like a cruel April Fools prank, but given what he had been through over the past year, it was no joke.
Picken has always been one of the toughest players I've seen on a football field, and his journey as a football player is a remarkable tale of perseverance. He had the footballing background – his father Billy Picken played 240 games for Collingwood and Sydney in the 1970s and 80s. His brother Marcus played 25 games for Brisbane between 1998 and 2001 and although he was traded to the Bulldogs after the 2001 season, he didn't play a single game. His cousin is Brisbane legend Jonathan Brown.
Despite this, Liam wouldn't find his way onto an AFL list until he was 22 years of age. He spent one pre-season with Collingwood and two more at the Bulldogs, but with no result. He had to settle with plying his trade at Williamstown, hoping he would've been good enough to be picked up a club – any club. Those that watched Picken in his early days would've picked up his pace and athleticism and could see that at AFL level – the problem though was his kicking, which was very scratchy at times.
2008 was the year that saw Picken breakthrough onto an AFL list. Williamstown were affiliated with the Western Bulldogs at the time, so they were well aware of him, when he was the second-best Seagull behind Callan Ward in a qualifying final. The following week he was named as their second-best player in their semi final. After being named a joint-winner of the Gerry Callahan Medal as Williamstown's best and fairest. Not too long afterwards, Picken was selected by the Bulldogs via their rookie list ahead of the 2009 AFL season.
The chances of rookie-listed players making it big have always been slim. But this wasn't going to deter Liam Picken from making it as an AFL player. He continued to work hard on his craft and it wasn't too long before Rodney Eade selected him for his debut. It was round two of the 2009 season and the Dogs, fresh from a 10-goal win over Fremantle, were set to take on North Melbourne. For Picken, he was to be thrown into the deep end straight away, playing as a negating midfielder. His first target – Brent Harvey.
Rodney Eade claimed that at his age it was 'make or break'. But Picken, often a reserved and mild-mannered player off the field, put his head down and went to work - that was something I loved about him, his no-nonsense approach to the game. His job on Harvey in his first game was fantastic. Generally, taggers don't rack up big numbers on the stat sheet. Picken only had nine touches to his name, but he kept the often-dangerous Harvey to 18 disposals and negated his influence successfully as the Bulldogs won by 15 points.
His battles with Harvey over the years has been well documented – I won't forget his clash with Harvey late in 2014. Picken's niggling with Harvey took a twist when the Kangaroo had enough and flipped him onto the turf and pressed his throat in what could've been easily confused for a wrestling match. The job for the tagger in AFL is to negate the influence of a specific player from the opposition. To get them to retaliate the way that Harvey reacted on this particular day, was considered a win for the club. Harvey's influence on the contest was limited at best.
He played every game but one this year. The following week, he was sent to tag Richmond's Brett Deledio, who at the time, was one of Richmond's better players. Deledio averaged 24 disposals per game this year and had only recorded under 20 disposals three times – two of those were against Picken and the Bulldogs. He kept Deledio to just 16 disposals in just his second career game and 13 touches in their return game in round 11.
He was the club's tagger for a number of years, he had jobs on the likes of Leigh Montagna, Andrew McLeod, Paul Chapman, Simon Black, Joel Selwood among others. On one occasion or another, he quelled the influences of all of them, pestering them to the point of retaliation. Picken's battles with Harvey was one of the more well documented rivalries. His match-ups with Gary Ablett were another that was often talked about.
The pair would match up a fair bit and both men had their fair share of spoils. From Ablett's prime years as a Cat to his tenure as a Gold Coast Sun. One particular match in 2014 saw the Bulldogs and the Suns meet at Metricon Stadium in round 10. Ablett at this stage was at his absolute best, having won the Brownlow Medal the season previous. On this day, Picken worked him tirelessly to 24 disposals – Ablett averaged 32 per game in 2014. He was also in trouble for elbowing Picken, but amazingly got off with a fine.
Following the sacking of Brendan McCartney at the end of 2014 and the appointment of Luke Beveridge for 2015, there was a sense of uncertainty in the air for the rugged tagger. Beveridge's gameplan didn't exactly hold a place for players who had a sole job to shut down opposition players, so Picken needed to be reinvented somehow. Surely enough, the man who had worked hard to get into the league found a way to make it work and adapted as quickly as anyone could image.
The opening few games of the 2015 season were nothing to write home about, but you could see that he was giving the effort. He just needed things to swing his way – he broke through in round four against Adelaide, where he hauled in a career-high 29 disposals and kicked a goal in a big win against the Crows. A week later, he bested his career-high in disposals with his first 30-plus possession game in a that massive win against Sydney in Sydney in the pouring rain.
Season 2015 was a reinvigorating version of Liam Picken that supporters had never seen before. I would say he's a more two-way player. I say that in the sense that he had the license to hunt the ball as well as play as a defensive role when the Dogs didn't have the ball. In his first six seasons at the club, the most disposals Picken averaged per game at any one season was 18 per game. In 2015, he averaged a personal best of 23.6 disposals per game – including four games in which he recorded 30 disposals or more.
In addition, he averaged 6.4 tackles, 3.6 clearances and 3.5 inside 50s per game – all of these personal bests. This stellar breakthrough season meant that Picken was rewarded with a two-year contract extension. This, along with his ability to throw caution in the wind to get the footy, is one of my favourite things about Liam Picken – set him a job and he'll get it done. He was without question, one of the club's most reliable players – particularly from the 21st century.
And of course, we haven't fully covered Liam Picken without mentioning his 2016. He continued to float around as a midfielder and a resting forward and like the previous season, was often a solid and consistent contributor. He played every game in 2016, but it will be his last four games of the season that we will all remember – the miracle month that was the Western Bulldogs' drought-breaking premiership.
Every player had their own respective say on the 2016 finals campaign, but for me at least, Picken was one of the five most important players to the club's premiership success. Picken averaged 23 disposals, six marks, four inside 50s and four clearances per game, as well as kicking eight goals from the four finals matches. Sydney's Josh Kennedy won the first-ever Gary Ayres Medal for the best player in the Finals Series in 2016, but if I asked you Bulldog supporters which Bulldog player should've won it, I think it's nearly a certainty that Picken would've been one of the first picked.
He was influential in every game. Against West Coast, his aerial abilities were on full display, taking nine marks – three of those contested – en route to kicking two goals as the Eagles were demolished at Subiaco. Against Hawthorn he showed his courage running back with the flight against Luke Breust in the second term, sparking a Bulldogs' run that the Hawks couldn't match. He went on to kick three second-half goals. Each one proving to be a devastating blow. He failed to kick a goal against the Giants in the preliminary final, but was still a presence to be menacing.
Then, the Grand Final itself. Along with Tom Boyd, Jason Johannisen and Joel Hamling's job on Lance Franklin, Picken's efforts were outstanding in a game which now forever holds its place inside AFL folklore. After kicking a massive goal from the pocket in the second term, Picken had a final quarter to remember. He took a leaping grab inside 50 over Jeremy Laidler and Zaine Cordy. His second goal came in the final term and it came off the back of hard work from his team mates – he mopped up a spilt mark that should've been taken and coolly converted from 35 metres straight in front in a big moment. His third goal late in the game prompted commentator Bruce McAvaney to declare the bursting of the proverbial dam wall.
Both of these goals were met with loud roars from the crowd – he was one of 22 premiership heroes that finally got the Dogs their second flag. He would only play one more season – the 2017 premiership hangover. Whilst team mates suffered a dip in form, Picken moved more forward and at times thrived in the role. He eventually shared the honours with Jake Stringer as the club's leading goal kicker that year, booting 24.14 for the season – including a career-best haul of six against the Gold Coast in Cairns.
His last official game as a Bulldog was against Hawthorn in round 23, 2017, alongside a couple of club legends in Robert Murphy and Matthew Boyd - we, as supporters, just didn't know it at the time.
After Picken was knocked out in that practice game and diagnosed with concussion, it became a serious problem for him to get back onto the training track at the very least. That hit was over a year ago, but to this day, Liam Picken still struggles with some of the concussion symptoms. The symptoms that have been listed include light and noise sensitivity, noise ringing in the ears, headaches and migranes, memory function and vision issues – all of these have happened to Picken in the last year and he has explained for the record – it can be a lonely and dark road.
As much as he tried to fight to work past it and get himself back out for his team, it was no use. In a way, I find it worth admiring that Picken worked his arse off to try and get back out and play the game he loves for over a year. I get the suspicion that quite a number of people who would've given it up much earlier for the wellbeing of their family, friends and most importantly – themselves. If I was to walk a mile in his shoes, I probably wouldn't have lasted as long as he did.
He walks away with a great 198-game career. Of course you would've loved to have seen him reach 200, but he still leaves with a fantastic tale and Liam can certainly hold his head high at the end of the day. His guts, determination and ability to stand up in the big games made him a player deserving of admiration.
Thank You Liam Picken!
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