'I got off lightly': Marlion Pickett opens up on dealing drugs before footy career7Sport
19 November 2020 The rise of Richmond hero Marlion Pickett hasn’t been an easy one – with the premiership player overcoming a string of trials along the way – including a fateful dalliance with the drug ice.
Pickett, who has successfully transformed his life following stints behind bars to become one of Australia’s most beloved and successful footballers, reveals in his new book Belief how he overcame the dark influences of his past.
Describing an extended family environment while growing up in Western Australia that was tainted by drug abuse, Pickett confesses that illegal substances were a presence in his life from an early age.
“Everything would start well,” Pickett remembers of the family get togethers that were a feature of his childhood.
“There was lots of food and laughing. A lot of drink and drugs too.
“We kids would be running around with our cousins having fun, riding bikes, playing games. It always ended in a fight. The uncles would be fighting or Dad would be fighting.
“I just accepted it, you know, as normal. The drugs, alcohol, fights, that was just what happened. Mum and Dad were good and all, but in terms of family members, it was alcohol and drugs all the time.”
By the time Pickett was 18, drugs had become a direct part of his own life.
Drinking alcohol and experimenting with the drug ice, Pickett’s life began to spin out of control.
With the drug all over Freemantle, he found it hard to resist.
“Gave me a rush at first, then I felt calm,” Pickett recalls.
“Your problems didn’t matter anymore. At least, not till the next smoke.”
He would take the drug and then sleep for days.
Soon he graduated to dealing to fund his lifestyle – although he refused to sell to anyone under the age of 18.
“Older people, people my age, men, women, some white people. It was everywhere,” Pickett said.
His experiment with dealing came to an end with his growing distaste over the business – and he didn’t want drugs around his young family.
But the ice lifestyle played into his ill-fated decision to participate in a break and enters at a shopping centre.
“Somebody said ‘Let’s do some shops’, something like that,” Pickett recalls.
His first serious run-in with the police was at the tender age of 15, with the future footy favourite finding himself sentenced to six months in juvenile detention for committing grievous bodily harm and robbery.
A young Pickett was sent to Western Australia’s Rangeview Remand Centre while on remand and awaiting trial – his first time in a detention facility.
“They made you strip off and shower, then they gave me my prison uniform,” Pickett recalls of the initial shock.
Locked in a spartan cell, the star admits he wasn’t yet ready to accept responsibility for his plight, and instead says he was consumed with anger over being falsely charged with theft on top of his GBH rap.
“Mainly I was angry at being charged with stealing,” he said.
Pickett was so green at the time, he was unaware of detention centre procedure, and the next morning had to be told by officers to clean his cell, mop the floor and make his bed.
Found guilty of GHB and robbery, the future icon was sentenced to six months at Rangeview – a run that would include Christmas and his sixteenth birthday.
“I tried not to think too much about outside,’ Pickett said of his reaction to the grim news, adding that others he knew had ended up with serious sentences in adult jails.
“I guess I got off lightly.”
Pickett spent his time in detention in the most productive ways he could – including working out and having push up competitions with other boys.
“I’d exercise whenever I could, play basketball and footy, jump on the trampoline.”
The centre also offered woodworking classes to help the young detainees earn skills for once they were returned to society.
But Pickett couldn’t help but notice the grim reality of the situation he found himself in.
“I reckon about eighty per cent inside were Indigenous boys,” he said.
When Christmas came around, there wasn’t much to celebrate about, “except we all got a hat for a Christmas present”.
His sixteenth birthday was spent mopping out his cell, making his bed and doing push-ups.
“One of the older prisoners in self-care had the same birthday and he cooked up a couple of cupcakes,” Pickett said.
“He came to my cell with one for me.”
While the future footballer attempted to return to normal teenage life after he was released, more trouble was on the horizon.
He was convicted of a series of non-violent offenses, including burglary, resulting in two and a half years in jail.
His first days behind bars this time were spent with his body attempting to adjust to life without drugs, and he slept heavily.
This time thoughts of his partner Jess and their two young boys weighed heavily upon him, both plunging him into a bleak frame of mind, and motivating him to get out and do something with his life.
“It was all getting too hard. It sent me into a depression,” Pickett said.
“I kept it inside. What was the point of being a dad if I wasn’t there when my kids were growing up?’”
Things got so tough, he attempted to take his life four times. But his dream to make something of himself eventually won out.
When his life began to come together after his release, he realised just how dark things had gotten – and how much better they were about to become.
“When I was in jail, I told myself I was going to try and make it in the WAFL,” Pickett said.
“I felt good about myself.”
The stint in prison was enough to straighten him up, and set him on the road towards redemption.
Pickett had had enough of the “rubbish”, and as his football career beckoned, alcohol and drugs were consigned to the past.
If you need help in a crisis, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For further information about depression contact beyondblue on 1300224636 or talk to your GP, local health professional or someone you trust.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/i-got-off-lightly-afl-player-opens-up-on-dealing-drugs-before-footy-career-c-1605882
