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Tom Hickey (footballer, born 1991)

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Tom Hickey
Hickey playing for St Kilda
Personal information
Full name Tom Hickey
Nickname(s) Ruck Jesus, Hick, Tricky Hickey
Date of birth (1991-03-06) 6 March 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth Brisbane, Queensland
Original team(s) Morningside
Draft Queensland zone selection,
2010 AFL Draft
Height 201 cm (6 ft 7 in)
Weight 94 kg (207 lb)
Position(s) Ruck
Club information
Current club Sydney
Number 31
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2011–2012 Gold Coast 12 (5)
2013–2018 St Kilda 67 (18)
2019–2020 West Coast 23 (9)
2021–2023 Sydney 49 (13)
Total 151 (45)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 24, 2023.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Tom Hickey (born 6 March 1991) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Gold Coast Suns, the St Kilda Football Club, and the West Coast Eagles.

Early life

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Hickey was born into a Brisbane family in which his father, Mick, is a former professional rugby league footballer who played 10 years of A-grade rugby league for Fortitude Valley in the Brisbane Rugby League.[1] While in primary school between the ages of six and fourteen, Hickey played rugby league for the Redland Rugby League Football Club in the position of five-eighth. Upon graduation from St Anthony's Catholic Primary School he moved to Iona College and tried his hand at basketball, rugby union, water polo, athletics and volleyball. He made his main focus volleyball while in high school and represented the Queensland state team and the schoolboys team throughout his schooling life. During his last term of high school in 2008 he joined friends at Iona to compete in four football games at the Associated Independent Colleges school competition and in doing so played Australian rules football for the first time at 17 years of age. While playing he was spotted by an AFL Queensland representative and was invited to join the AFLQ Rookie Search Program.

Junior football

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At the beginning of 2009, Hickey joined the Morningside Australian Football Club's under 18 side. His under 18 team would win the premiership that year and Hickey finished second in the league best and fairest medal.[1] The following year he was picked to represent Queensland in the 2010 AFL Under 18 Championships where he was the Queensland ruckman. He also established himself as a ruckman in Morningside's senior team and was a part of the 2010 QAFL premiership winning team. Matching up against former AFL players Peter Everitt and Trent Knobel in the grand final, Hickey's team would come back from a 20-point deficit at three quarter time to win the premiership.[2] Following the 2010 season he travelled to Canberra to showcase himself at the AFL Draft Combine. He was the best performed ruckman in the agility test and equal second best among ruckmen in the beep test as well as being ranked second overall in the "clean hands" test. Hickey was drafted under zone concessions to the newly formed Gold Coast Suns in October 2010 and moved to the Gold Coast to begin his first AFL preseason.[3]

AFL career

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2011–2012: Gold Coast

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Hickey made his AFL debut in round 22 of the 2011 season against Adelaide, kicking his first AFL goal.[4] After two seasons with the Suns, Hickey requested a trade to St Kilda to be closer to his Melbourne-based girlfriend. Complications arose when the Gold Coast demanded a first-round selection for Hickey's service and the Saints eventually agreed to the deal.[5]

2013–2018: St Kilda

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Hickey debuted for St Kilda in round 1 of the 2013 season in a loss to his former club Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium. He played as a second ruckman throughout the season, becoming the sole ruck in round 21 against Sydney after Ben McEvoy was substituted. The next week, Hickey recorded a personal best of 17 disposals against Gold Coast. He had the second-most hit-outs at St Kilda in 2013.[6] After McEvoy was traded to Hawthorn, Hickey became the first-choice ruckman at the Saints. After a good start to the 2014 season, which included a 19-disposal and three-goal performance against the Greater Western Sydney Giants in round 2, Hickey suffered foot and quad injuries, restricting him to just one game after round 6.[7][8] Knee tendonitis ended his season.[8] In the meantime, Billy Longer played 12 games[8] and established himself as St Kilda's principal ruckman. In 2015, Hickey became second ruckman after Longer, mostly playing as a pinch-hitting forward. He played 11 games[9] and signed a two-year contract extension, tying him to St Kilda until 2017.[10]

Hickey returned as the premier Saints ruckman in 2016, playing his best game at St Kilda according to coach Alan Richardson in round 1 against Port Adelaide. Hickey amassed 56 hit-outs and 20 disposals[9] – career highs.[7] He extended his contract until 2019 after playing 20 games for the season.[11] In 2017, Hickey again fell behind Longer in the ruck pecking order. Strong form in a 2017 JLT Community Series match against Sydney – in which Hickey accumulated 29 disposals, 39 hit-outs and 18 contested possessions – did not translate to the regular season. Hickey suffered back, medial ligament, calf and right shoulder injuries, the latter of which required post-season surgery. When uninjured, he struggled to break into the St Kilda team as Longer continued to maintain his form. He was selected against Essendon in round 17 after Longer suffered a hamstring injury, but played poorly and was replaced the next game.[12] Hickey played 13 games in 2018, suffering a left hamstring tendon injury late in the season against the Western Bulldogs.[13]

2019–2020: West Coast

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After six years and 67 games with the Saints, Hickey was traded to the West Coast Eagles at the end of the 2018 season for pick 39 and West Coast's 2019 fourth-round selection. The Eagles also received pick 60 and St Kilda's fourth-round pick for 2019. Hickey was recruited to replace the departing ruckman Scott Lycett.[14]

2021–2023: Sydney

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After two years at the Eagles in which he remained behind Nic Naitanui in the club's ruck stocks, Hickey was traded to his fourth club, the Sydney Swans, during the 2020 trade period.[15] This made him the first AFL player to play for four clubs based in four different states. On Tuesday 22 August 2023 Tom announced that he will retire from AFL football at the completion of the 2023 season.

Statistics

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Updated to the end of the 2022 season.[16]

Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
H/O
 Hit-outs
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game) Votes
G B K H D M T H/O G B K H D M T H/O
2011 Gold Coast 40 2 1 1 5 14 19 2 6 8 0.5 0.5 2.5 7.0 9.5 1.0 3.0 4.0 0
2012 Gold Coast 40 10 4 3 41 56 97 42 17 101 0.4 0.3 4.1 5.6 9.7 4.2 1.7 10.1 0
2013 St Kilda 1 12 2 5 43 82 125 42 18 145 0.2 0.4 3.6 6.8 10.4 3.5 1.5 12.1 0
2014 St Kilda 1 6 3 1 23 47 70 24 19 144 0.5 0.2 3.8 7.8 11.7 4.0 3.2 24.0 0
2015 St Kilda 1 11 7 7 56 61 117 37 25 100 0.6 0.6 5.1 5.5 10.6 3.4 2.3 9.1 0
2016 St Kilda 1 20 3 7 103 162 265 60 65 574 0.2 0.4 5.2 8.1 13.3 3.0 3.3 28.7 1
2017 St Kilda 1 5 0 1 33 27 60 11 16 138 0.0 0.2 6.6 5.4 12.0 2.2 3.2 27.6 0
2018 St Kilda 1 13 3 5 74 115 189 40 37 316 0.2 0.4 5.7 8.8 14.5 3.1 2.8 24.3 0
2019 West Coast 16 20 9 2 120 129 249 58 51 388 0.5 0.1 6.0 6.5 12.5 2.9 2.6 19.4 0
2020[a] West Coast 16 3 0 0 6 10 16 5 3 42 0.0 0.0 2.0 3.3 5.3 1.7 1.0 14.0 0
2021 Sydney 31 21 10 7 193 154 347 60 45 506 0.5 0.3 9.2 7.3 16.5 2.9 2.1 24.1 4
2022 Sydney 31 16 3 2 120 115 235 49 26 348 0.2 0.1 7.5 7.2 14.7 3.1 1.6 21.8 0
Career 139 45 41 817 972 1789 430 328 2810 0.3 0.3 5.9 7.0 12.9 3.1 2.4 20.2 5
  1. ^ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

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  1. ^ a b Ryan, Michael (16 May 2018). "Hickey: From volleyball to the AFL". saints.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  2. ^ Hamilton, Andrew (20 September 2010). "Morningside wins QAFL grand final with late surge". Courier Mail.
  3. ^ "Tom Hickey signed by Gold Coast". 28 October 2010.
  4. ^ "Tom Hickey". goldcoastfc.com.au. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  5. ^ Landsberger, Sam (24 October 2012). "Saints land Suns ruckman Tom Hickey". news.com.au.
  6. ^ "2013 review: Tom Hickey". saints.com.au. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  7. ^ a b Morris, Tom (8 May 2016). "St Kilda ruckman Tom Hickey reaching new heights as he aims to become permanent number one ruck". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Cherny, Daniel (24 July 2014). "St Kilda ruckman Tom Hickey out for the season with knee tendonitis". The Age. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  9. ^ a b Morgan, Kym (28 March 2016). "Hickey's No.1 aim after career-best game". afl.com.au. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  10. ^ Cherny, Daniel (17 August 2015). "Tom Hickey extends contract at St Kilda until end of 2017". The Age. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  11. ^ King, Travis (15 February 2017). "Important Saints duo locked in for two more". afl.com.au. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  12. ^ Dinny, Navaratnam (18 February 2018). "Saints ruckman sees silver lining in torrid year". afl.com.au. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  13. ^ Dinny, Navaratnam (6 August 2018). "Hamstring injury likely to end big Saint's season". afl.com.au. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  14. ^ Ryan, Peter (10 October 2018). "Saints ruckman Hickey traded to West Coast". The Age. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  15. ^ "Big man becomes four-club player after Swans swoop". AFL Media. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  16. ^ Tom Hickey's player profile at AFL Tables
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