ADRIAN Hickmott didn’t start playing football for Horsham until he was 16 years old, and it took little time for him to find his feet.
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Growing up on a farm at Clear Lake, junior football meant a bit of a trek for Hickmott and his father Morriss.
“I lived out on the farm with dad and we had to travel in to Horsham,” Hickmott said.
“Dad coached Horsham so I went to training and spent a lot of time around the club. When I was old enough I went to school at Horsham Tech and walked across to training at the Horsham Football Club. Dad picked me up at night and we drove back home.
“My first memories of football are excitement and travel.
“I played with Horsham in the under-17s and then on Sundays I played for Sunnyside. I did those two games on weekends for a year.”
Hickmott spent two premiership-winning seasons playing in Horsham’s seniors from 1989-90 where he was coached by his uncle Peter Hickmott.
“We always wanted to be successful and Peter pushed it as a coach and it was pushed as an organisation. It wasn’t overbearing, it was more of an excitement feeling,” he said.
“I remember walking from school in the rain and waiting under the balcony for the rooms to open. There were a lot of older guys there always happy to help out.
“I was 17 or 18 playing senior football in the Wimmera league and I had a bit of notice from AFL clubs but not too much. I loved Horsham Football Club. I was young but my dad and uncle were there and it was an exciting club.”
When Hickmott missed the AFL draft in 1990 he was content to keep working on the farm with his father.
However, that all changed after the Geelong Football Club literally came knocking on the door.
“I was digging a hole in the farm and a white car pulled up the long gravel driveway,” Hickmott said.
“It was Geelong and they had driven there to meet me and they asked me if I wanted to come train with them. I thought I was going to be a good shearer and I was doing that from a young age. I thought I would shear in 1991 and try and get drafted the year after.
“I had the opportunity to train and I played in the under-19s for Geelong in 1991. It was a big list and they had seniors, reserves and the under-19s.
“I played all year in the under-19s and I think I played one game in the reserves.”
In his first year at Geelong, Hickmott made an immediate impression and won the under-19s best and fairest award. Despite his on-field performances, Hickmott still felt an urge to return home.
“I missed the farm terribly; I was a bush kid and I loved the farm and working there,” he said.
“Sometimes you’re torn. Dad said to me one day, ‘You need to stop coming here and ringing because you aren’t putting your heart and soul into footy’. That was a great wake up call and set me on my way to play AFL.”
In 1992 Hickmott made his senior debut in the AFL in round 24 against Essendon.
“We were playing Essendon at Waverly and Essendon was the team I barracked for as a child because my uncle Peter had played for them,” he said.
“He would always send me down a football once a year.
“I played on the half-forward flank and I can’t remember who I lined up on. It was a big ground and I loved it. It was definitely always my dream to play AFL.”
All of a sudden, Hickmott featured for Geelong in the 1992 finals series.
“Guys like Gary Ablett, Billy Brownless, Steve and Garry Hocking, Mark Bairstow and Billy Brownless were at Geelong so there were some big names there. I keep asking myself how I cracked into that team but I must have shown a bit of promise,” Hickmott said.
“It was a really good team and there were a lot of senior leaders. A lot of guys stood up and it was a pretty good side, we just couldn’t win the gold nugget.
“I had played all year in the reserves in 1992 and at the end of the season I looked up and saw my name on the team sheet. I played a few games and the first two finals and then we made the grand final and I was dropped.”
Hickmott played 50 games for Geelong including in two losing grand finals.
“In 1994 we lost against West Coast and then in 1995 we lost against Carlton,” he said.
“It was fantastic playing in front of those crowds. The build-up and excitement for those games was massive.”
After losing to Carlton in the 1995 grand final, Hickmott found himself being traded to the Blues before the 1996 season.
“It was a good challenge going to Carlton,” he said.
“I was lucky enough to get another AFL gig and they accepted me with open arms. It was a weird feeling, though. They had won the grand final the year before but the leaders there in Stephen Kernahan, Peter Dean, Greg Williams and Craig Bradley formed a fantastic group of players.
“They were very humble with what they had achieved.”
Hickmott played some of his best football at Carlton in eight years at the club. He was named the club’s best first year player in 1996 and was Carlton’s vice-captain towards the end of his playing career.
“There was always a really good vibe at Carlton,” he said.
“It was special for me to be vice-captain being in that group. Brett Ratten was captain and I really enjoyed the support and helping others.
“We had some exciting times and some non-exciting times there but I always had that love for the game.”
Hickmott played in his third losing grand final against North Melbourne in 1999.
“I missed the 1999 preliminary final win against Essendon with a hamstring injury but I was lucky enough to get a gig the next week,” he said.
“I think every AFL player’s dream is to win a grand final, so it stings not to win one but on the other side it’s fantastic to make one.
“There are some mixed feelings about not getting a medal from three grand final attempts. I coach now to develop young players to the best of their ability and mine so they can hopefully achieve that goal.”
After leaving Carlton and retiring from football in 2003, Hickmott set his sights on forging a new career in football as a coach.
He joined Essendon as a development coach for three years and has been with the West Coast Eagles since 2012.
“Towards the end of the season in 2003 I was getting a bit scared; when you’re young you think you’re going to play until your 50,” he said.
“Dad and my uncle coached so I probably had it in my blood. My family and I didn’t really want to head back to the farm because it is so hard, so I took up a couple of coaching roles.”
Hickmott is currently the Eagles’ contested ball co-ordinator and assistant coach to Adam Simpson.
“After the Essendon role I was trying to work out what I can do to be recognised as a coach, so we moved to Perth where I was the colts coach at Swan Districts and assistant coach in the senior side and I was lucky enough to get a position at West Coast after that,” he said.
“You learn a lot from coaching. If I knew what I know now as a coach when I was playing there’s no doubt I would have been better. Age plays a factor and when you’re not a coach you listen but you haven’t got that same experience. Seeing guys develop and winning is a good job.
“You want a good work-life balance and we do work on that. I will go home and have a surf or go fishing because football can absorb your whole life if you allow it to.”
Hickmott said he was taking his coaching career as it comes but had plans to stay in football for as long as possible.
“I’ve been studying sports coaching online for eight years – I just made it to year 12 so to start studying again when I was 40 has helped give me direction,” he said.
“I’m doing a masters now and I hope to stay in the football industry for as long as I can.”