What have you done, Higgins?
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 News Corp.
“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 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 10point lead in the third quarter.
Higgins ranked the goal his No.1 highlight from a memorable debut season in which he has grabbed headlines and hearts.
“I couldn’t believe it for literally the next week,” he said.
“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 teammate Jack Riewoldt replicated the move at a local park on an Instagram video viewed 118,000 times.
The day after that, Higgins took 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.”