Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says exciting small forward Kysaiah Pickett is likely to play in the club’s first game of the 2021 season.
The Demons host Fremantle at the MCG on Saturday afternoon and the no.12 selection out of the 2019 draft will be front and centre, according to Goodwin.
Pickett returned to Adelaide last month to be with family following the death of his mother with the funeral held in country Western Australia.
Despite his time away from the club, Pickett did not fall behind in his training and is expected to be in the senior side against the Dockers.
“He’s very much likely to play,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“He’s done a hell of a lot of work. We set up a program for ‘Kozzy’ back in Adelaide for the three weeks he was away. He trained with Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL and he was up doing F45 at 6am.
“He was really diligent with his program and he’s certainly done the load. He’s played a game and a half in the VFL, so we’re really confident that he’ll be ready to go.”
Pickett, 19, kicked seven goals in 14 games in his debut season last year.
The return of Pickett will fill one of the holes in the Demons forward line but there are still a few gaps to plug in the form of injured duo Ben Brown and Sam Weideman.
Goodwin says he and his coaching staff have put plans in place with captain Max Gawn, developing tall Luke Jackson and star midfielder Christian Petracca set to spend more time inside forward 50.
“We’ve always wanted to use ‘Gawny’ a little bit more forward and with the development of Luke Jackson, that’s going to enable us to do that,” he added.
“They’re different types of ruckmen, but they’re also different forwards. Max has a real big presence down there and Luke’s good aerially but he’s also good at ground level.
“So it gives us that opportunity and we know Christian provides us with a really strong target of the ball. Those guys will certainly increase our rotation through the ruck and through our midfield so we can get some more goals forward of the ball.”
The Demons, at some stage, will also look to give an opportunity to former North Melbourne utility Majak Daw who impressed with four goals for Casey in a VFL practice match last week.
Daw was picked up by the club via the pre-season supplemental selection period after planning to spend 2021 playing with North Heidelberg.
“He’s come in and really embraced what he needs to do,” Goodwin said of Daw.
“He’s still a little bit short of a run. He came off minimal preparation with North Heidelberg into our program.
“We’ll take it slowly with ‘Maj’ in terms of getting him prepared. We think he’s got the potential to have a really big impact for us, not only in the short term, but over the next few years.
“He certainly performed strongly against Box Hill on Friday night kicking four and probably the most dominant player on the ground.
“That was an exciting to be at last week and we got a little snippet of what Maj can do for us.”
The Demons meet the Dockers at 1:45pm AEDT on Saturday at the MCG.
