SUNS RECRUIT IS RISING AFTER DARKEST HOUR
TWENTY-FOUR hours is all it took for Jordann Hickey’s life to change.
In late 2018, the 25-yearold became the first player from Central Australia to crack an AFLW list.
Listed by the Melbourne Demons, the Alice Springs product was soon being mentored by AFLW stalwart Daisy Pearce and training in hope of a league debut. But her debut never came and Hickey was delisted by the Dees after the 2019 season.
Overcome by disappointment, it took less than 24 hours for Hickey’s AFLW dream to receive a much needed revival.
“I was thinking my dream had gone before it had even started,” she said. “(But I) thought that if one door closed then another would open and it did when Lakey (coach David Lake) called me.
“It was a pretty whirlwind 24 hours from being really upset to then seeing there was another opportunity for me to grab.”
Hickey’s AFLW introduction came when a netball teammate asked her to fill in for her football team.
“I fell in love with it and they asked me if I wanted to keep going and I thought yes,” she said.
From there, Hickey began to fly to and from Darwin each weekend to play for the Darwin Buffaloes in pursuit of her AFLW dream. She played in the NT Thunder’s inaugural VFLW side, finishing fourth in the club champion award and taking rookie of the year.
Hickey said she was refusing to take her second chance for granted.
“I’d be so excited for it and that I’m finally getting my opportunity to get out on to the field and make history,” she said.
Hickey was one of 24 Suns named in their squad to take on St Kilda in a practice match tomorrow. The session is open to the public, starting at noon at Fankhauser Reserve. Emma Pittman and Kitara Whap-Farrar were not considered due to injury while Ellie Hampson, Tori Groves-Little, Charlotte Hammans and Georgia Breward were not named.