Jack Higgins reveals stunning goal was a school trick he taught himselfSAM LANDSBERGER,
Herald Sun
September 4, 2018 JACK Higgins’ mind flashed back to when he was 11.
As the Richmond forward chased a ball spinning towards the goal line, his childhood memory sparked an idea.
“I saw Dustin (Martin) and (Matthew) Scharenberg going for a contest, and that’s when Scharenberg slipped over and did his knee unfortunately,” Higgins told the Herald Sun.
“The ball fell back and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m on here for an open goal’.
“The ball did a Shane Warne sort of right turn and edged towards the goalpost.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to run into the goalpost. What can I do?’
“So I’ve elevated the ball drop and remembered back in primary school, me and my mates used to do scissor kicks (with a soccer ball) on a gym mat.
“That memory went through my head, and I kicked it over my head and middled it and thought, ‘What have I just done?’ ”
Higgins, of course, was talking about his goal-of-the-year contender.
It was Round 19 against Collingwood and, in front of 88,180 fans, the teenager’s quick thinking gave the Tigers a 10-point lead in the third quarter.
Higgins ranked the goal his No.1 highlight from a memorable debut season where he has grabbed headlines and hearts.
“I couldn’t believe it for literally the next week,” he said.
“I could not believe I just did that. It got shown to me so many times.
“It was crazy. But I didn’t even realise it was that good until the end of the game when (Fox Footy’s) Nick Dal Santo came up to me.
“I just thought it was another goal. I saw the replay (on the scoreboard) and thought, ‘That’s a cool goal’ but didn’t think much of it.”
The next day spearhead Jack Riewoldt replicated the move at a local park on an Instagram video viewed 118,000 times.
The day after that, Higgins completed a footy clinic in Glen Iris.
“I saw all these kids doing it and I was like, ‘What have I created? What have I done?’” he said.
“That would’ve been me five years ago doing that.
“After the game I checked my phone and it was going crazy.
“I got over 400 texts from mates – Facebook messages and Instagram DMs (direct messages) and that.
“It was shared all over my Facebook wall and I was like, ‘What have I just done?’”
“When they went to score review I thought they thought maybe it was a throw.
“I knew definitely it wasn’t touched. But it got called a goal and I thought that’s crazy.”
The No.18 draft pick ranked his first game and goal his No.2 highlight, with his viral halftime speech against Sydney No.3.
“I hate that celebration that I did (after my first goal),” Higgins said.
“It was shocking, I’m never watching that again. The halftime speech – everyone was messaging me about it… What did I say, what did I say?”
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/jack-higgins-reveals-stunning-goal-was-a-school-trick-he-taught-himself/news-story/547f3ae99db02dc6f2d52c1ee7501123
