Greater Western Sydney recruit Jarrod Pickett is focusing on the little things as he begins his first pre-season at AFL level.
While development will be key to Pickett’s future success, the 18-year-old told aflplayers.com.au the Giants have made it clear his longevity is the number one priority.
“There is still room for improvement in my fitness and little things to do with training but the club are happy where we’re at now and they’ve got our long term future in mind. They keep us really well monitored with our training; we’re well looked after,” Pickett says.
“The pre-season’s been good and a bit hard but I’ve only been doing around 80 percent of the training because they don’t want to overload our bodies right at the start.
“I’m all fit and healthy with no injuries so I’ve just been training as hard as I can.”
The exciting midfielder was picked up by the Giants with the fourth selection in last year’s National Draft after testing strongly at the combine and giving recruiters a glimpse of his potential with a 22-disposal – 11 contested – three-goal effort for Western Australia at the Under 18 National Championships.
Throughout a glittering junior career in which he played senior footy for South Fremantle and represented Western Australia through different age groups, Pickett became well acquainted with other recent high profile draft picks, both as a teammate and opponent.
“Me and Jarrod Garlett have played footy together since we were about 14. I played with him in the South Fremantle development teams and we ended up going to Colts together, as well as state 15’s, 16’s, and 18’s. So it’s fair to say I’ve played a lot of footy with ‘Garls’.
“I look up to Devon Smith; he just trains so hard. He and Toby Greene just do everything at 100 percent” – Jarrod Pickett
“We were in his room the other night with a few of the boys just watching a movie and catching up.
“I reckon Angus Brayshaw is the pick of this draft though. He’s just such a good player.”
After spending the first few weeks being put through his paces at GWS, Pickett has bonded well off-field with fellow top-ten draftee Paul Ahern, while on field he can’t help but admire a couple of his new teammates’ training standards.
“I’m pretty close with Paul Ahern now. I never really knew him before we both arrived at GWS but we’re living in an apartment together so we stick together a lot.”
”I look up to Devon Smith; he just trains so hard. He and Toby Greene just do everything at 100 percent so they’re guys that I look at and try to train like.
“But all the boys have been really welcoming. They’re still a young side and it was only two or three years ago they were all in the same position so everyone’s been really helpful.”
Melbourne’s Christian Petracca selected Pickett as the player most likely to take out the Best First Year Player award in 2015 – click here to see who Pickett tipped.