KYSAIAH Pickett still can't believe this is his life now. Not just playing for Melbourne at the MCG with a premiership medallion at home, but everything that goes with being a star. It is why two stylists and a make-up artist have been hovering around him for the last half an hour.
And it is why Pickett is lounging inside the swanky Farmer's Daughters restaurant on Exhibition Street and posing crossing Collins Street in a pale grey Charli Godwin suit.
The salubrious surrounds of the city's top end of town are familiar to those of a red and blue persuasion, but it's a long way from home for softly spoken 23-year-old Pickett. He has been a long way from home for a decade now. Home is the tiny wheatbelt town, Quairading, two hours east of Perth, where around 600 people reside on the land of the Ballardong Noongar people.
Given the stark contrast between his beloved home town in regional WA and the faster pace of Melbourne, Australia's biggest and most cosmopolitan city, it's remarkable that Pickett looks so at ease striding across one of the city's most prestigious streets, surrounded by high-end fashion boutiques and five-star hotels.
But when you dig a little deeper into Pickett's interests, it all makes sense. Fashion is one of his passions, when he's not lighting up the MCG or spending precious time with his family.
Off the field, the livewire Demons forward has been developing his own clothing brand this winter. If things go to plan, Pickett will launch 'Offnon' in the first half of next year.
"I'm slowly ticking it over, talking and working with my guy. I've always been into fashion, always loved every bit of it really," he said.
"I think having good pieces of clothes is a way to express yourself. A lot of people aren't comfortable wearing different things when it comes to your clothing, but that's the art of it really, being able to express yourself with different types of pieces.
"It is a way you can disconnect from footy. I think it is important to have something outside of footy because life shouldn’t be all about footy; it is always good to have a back-up plan as well. But disconnecting from footy is the main thing."
For so much of Pickett's life, footy has been the main thing.
He left home for Adelaide at the age of 13 to move in with his uncle Byron, the North Melbourne and Port Adelaide premiership great, who finished his AFL career at Melbourne. Pickett eventually boarded at prestigious school Prince Alfred College and was selected by the Demons at pick No.12 in the 2019 AFL Draft.
Since then, Pickett has raced to 106 appearances. He has settled in the AFL, and is settled in Melbourne and at the Demons, despite South Australian and West Australian clubs regularly checking his appetite for a move. And his life changed even more dramatically this year when Pickett and his partner Ardu welcomed their daughter Belleny into the world in April.
"She is growing so much every day. Life is different to what it used to be like. It is just amazing what someone so small can bring to your life and how happy they can make you," Pickett told AFL.com.au this month.
"It is great to have my own family now. It gives me another reason to get the most out of myself. I want to set myself and my family up. That is the main thing that drives me now, setting us up for when she is older."
Pickett brought Belleny home to Quairading for the first time in May ahead of a game against West Coast at Optus Stadium. He was joined by Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin, teammates Shane McAdam and Clayton Oliver, as well as former Demon and current Indigenous projects officer Matt Whelan.
No matter how long Pickett is away, Western Australia will always be home. He has long been a leader for his community and is now one for the broader Indigenous cohort in the AFL.
"From what I grew up with to what I have now, I'm so grateful to be in the position that I am in now. I come from such a small town," Pickett explained.
"I always wanted to play AFL, but coming from a place where there is hardly anything there, I do feel like I am a leader. A lot of kids back there do look up to me. There is only footy and netball back there, so if I can be that driving force to help them get over the line and want to do something with their lives, I'd be glad to take that leadership role."
Not much has gone to plan at the Demons this year. For the first time since 2020 they are watching on in September. Pickett has almost eradicated the bump from his game, but not quite. He will start 2025 on the sidelines after receiving a three-game suspension for a final round bump on Collingwood captain Darcy Moore.
Pickett was raised in Western Australia, drafted out of Adelaide and now making his mark in the city of Melbourne, playing for the football team that bears its name. Life has taken him further than he ever imagined. And he is only scratching the surface.
Kozzy wears looks by MNDATORY (Collins Street), Godwin Charli (Flinders Lane), Bared Footwear (Manchester Lane), Trend Optic (Little Collins Street) and Dr Martens (Melbourne Central).