Derek Kickett

Derek Kickett
Personal information
Full name	Derek Kickett
Date of birth	6 October 1962
Original team	West Perth
Height/Weight	180 cm / 88 kg
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1989 1990 – 1993 1994 – 1996 Total	North Melbourne Essendon Sydney	012 0(12) 077 0(94) 063 0(73) 152 (179)
1 Playing statistics to end of 1996 season .
Career highlights
Claremont premiership side 1987

Derek Thomas Kickett (born 6 October 1962) is a former Australian rules footballer. A journeyman, Kickett played with seven different VFL/AFL, WAFL and SANFL clubs through his career.

Kickett began his senior career in the West Australian Football League with West Perth, and he was the leading goalkicker at West Perth in 1984.^[1] He moved to the Claremont Football Club, where he won a WAFL premiership in 1987. While at Claremont, he polled 46 votes in the Sandover Medal in 1987, which was the most of any player that season, but was ineligible to win the award due a suspension for slapping an opponent. Kickett would have won the Sandover Medal by 16 votes, had he been eligible.^{Note 1, [2]}

In 1988, Kickett moved to Adelaide and played for Central District in the South Australian National Football League; then, in 1989, he was recruited by North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League, where he played also played only one season before being delisted.^[3]

In 1990, Kickett moved to the Essendon Football Club, where he played four seasons, and became a popular cult figure, known for confident playing style, high leap, evasive skills and his long kicking ability. He was a renowned exponent of the torpedo punt. He played every match in 1992 and 1993 up to the preliminary final, before being omitted from the Bombers' winning 1993 AFL Grand Final team by coach Kevin Sheedy. The omission continues to be one of the most controversial decisions of Sheedy's coaching career, but Sheedy's still defends the decision, stating that Kickett's lack of endurance would have been a specific weakness for the team against Carlton, Essendon's opponent on the day. Kickett immediately walked out on the club, and did not watch the Grand Final, nor celebrate the victory with his team-mates.^[3]

After leaving Essendon, Kickett was drafted by the Sydney Swans. He played three seasons at Sydney, and his last game of AFL football was in the 1996 AFL Grand Final, which Sydney lost against North Melbourne. Kickett returned to the WAFL in 1997, and played that season with Subiaco, before retiring.^[1]

Kickett has made several appearances in the E J Whitten Legends Game. In 2007, he ran development programs for AFL Victoria working with indigenous children.^[4]

Footnotes

1.^ Kickett's 46 votes actually tied the record for the most votes in a Sandover Medal count, set in 1985 by Murray Wrensted, and remained a record until Matthew Priddis polled 58 votes in 2006; however, the Sandover Medal had changed from a 3-2-1 voting system to a 5-4-3-2-1 voting system in 1985, and comparisons with the counts between 1921 and 1984 are not valid.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Derek Kickett". WAFL Online. http://www.wafl.com.au/players/view/1630. Retrieved 14 Oct 2011. 
2. ^ Tatz, Colin (1987), Aborigines in Sport, Adelaide, SA: The Australian Society for Sports History, p. 69 
3. ^ ^{a b} Sheedy, Kevin (18 May 2008). "Kickett not right man for the hour". Herald Sun. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/kickett-not-right-man-for-the-hour/story-e6frf9l6-1111116366943. Retrieved 14 October 2011. 
4. ^ AFL Record Round 9, 2007

External links

• AFL Tables: Derek Kickett

Persondata
Name	Kickett, Derek
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	6 October 1962
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death