Liam Picken’s last quarter heroics may become the most watched piece of vision this AFL season

[Mofra]

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/lia...e2c618ba165b3f

(Vision in link)

IT WASN’T flamboyant.

And it won’t dominate the highlights reel.

But Liam Picken’s gut running in the final quarter against the Swans may be the most replayed piece of vision this AFL season.

With the Western Bulldogs trailing by two points after three consecutive Sydney majors, Picken ran the length of the field to set up teammate Marcus Bontempelli for a game-defining goal.

It was tough, gritty and selfless — everything that Picken has come to represent.

And it hasn’t gone unnoticed, with St Kilda coach Alan Richardson praising Picken’s gut-busting heroics.

“It’s certainly the type of moment you’d reference to,” Richardson told AFL 360.

“It’s late in the game, everyone has worked extremely hard, he’s probably up to 14 or 15 kilometres of work that he’s already done.

“For the good of the team, he’s reset really aggressively so they’ve got something to kick to. It was very impressive.”

Dual North Melbourne premiership player David King suggested the Western Bulldogs would use the vision throughout the year to not only inspire its players, but remind them of the actions that win matches.

“This will be the most watched piece of vision at the Western Bulldogs for the year,” King told On The Couch.

“They’ll trace back to this whenever they go through a form slump or look for reasons why things aren’t working.

“It will come back to that passage of play.”

Few players enhance their credentials after 150 games.

But Picken has become the exception.

The 30-year-old had his best year to date in 2016 — some nine years after he was drafted. And symptomatic of the Western Bulldogs, his form in September was electric.

Only teammate Jason Johannisen and Swans pair Isaac Heeney and Josh Kennedy were judged to have a better finals campaign than Picken, who polled 14 votes in the inaugural Gary Ayres Award.

Richardson said Picken’s form had followed him into the new year.

“It’s as impressive as a play at the moment in terms of winning contests,” Richardson said.

“He was one of their best finals players. Whenever the ball went forward last year, late, he won it, irrespective of size and shape of the opposition.

“He has continued on this year. He’s in good nick.”

[ledge]

It's pretty amazing vision , in fact half way through his run his opponent drops off and another takes over and still can't keep up, considering two things , one he is working so hard and 2 it's the final Minutes of the game, if that vision is not used by other clubs they aren't doing their job !
In stark contrast look at GA Jnr
What Picken does sums up this list is very close and players will do what they have to to win.
Brings a very warm feeling to the cockles of my heart that we have a very special bunch of players.

[Twodogs]

Did anyone else see the quick interview with his daughter on the weekend? "What does your daddy do?", "he wins Grand Finals!" "And what's daddy's name"-little kid looks a bit confused because obviously daddy's name is daddy but this man wanted me to say his other name, it's, umm, oh yeah! big smile! "Liam PICKEN"

[ledge]

Billy is quickly becoming the dad of Liam instead of Liam being the son of Billy.

[Murphy'sLore]

I tried to say that the other day, but got myself tangled up: "he's not his father's son, now he's his -- father's son..."

Got there eventually.

[Twodogs]

Billy is quickly becoming the dad of Liam instead of Liam being the son of Billy.

And Billy was a big deal when we were kids.

[Remi Moses]

Just inspiring footy

[ratsmac]

Loved it. I reckon I've watched it at least 15 times already myself. I'd really like to know how many times he does these type of gut runs that we don't notice because the ball didn't get kicked to him.
We have adored Liam for years for what he brings to the table each week. Now because of the success we've had and the Friday night football exposure, the rest of the football world are seeing what we have for years.

[Twodogs]

Liam Picken is doing a Tony Liberatore in reverse. Libba sr went from a skilled rover to a tough as nails tagger and Liam Picken did the tough as nails tagger bit first before he turned into a skilled player.

[comrade]

Must be weird for Picko to have all this hype around him at the tail end of his career. Such an unassuming bloke, when he gets interviewed you can tell his goal is to finish up as quickly as possible! Short, sharp & efficient.

Great player, great person, great family man. Rapt that he's getting some well deserved recognition.

As an aside, how much would our veterans be loving Bevo right now. Morris the GF hero, Boyd wins AA selection at 34, Picko currently a top 50 player in the comp. I can see plenty of blokes in that 28-30 bracket asking their managers to call the Dogs for a chance at late career glory, just like Cloke.