They are arguably Launceston's sportiest couple, and probably its tallest.
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Northern Hawks forward Danni Pickett and Launceston ruckman Hamish Leedham will be spearheading their teams' hopes as the statewide netball and footy competitions reach their finals.
Aged 25 and 184 centimetres tall, Pickett will be appearing in her third straight grand final chasing a second premiership while Leedham, 23 and 197cm, will be looking to improve on back-to-back preliminary and semi-final losses to Lauderdale.
We tracked them down to find out how much attention they pay to the other's sporting endeavours.
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- How closely do you follow each other's sports?
DP: I follow it very closely. I try and get to as many games as I can and we were probably really lucky in the first half of the season that our rosters aligned pretty well so usually if Hamish plays up here and I do as well I go and watch him for a half or three-quarters and then I head up to the Silverdome to watch our unders and then play.
HL: I usually finish footy, shower up, go in the bar for 20 minutes and then head up before the game starts. I try and get to as many games at the Silverdome as I can. I've also been to two Hobart games and a couple of Sunday games.
- How do you think the Hawks/Blues are going?
HL: Pretty well. I don't know a great deal about netball but the game style looks good. I'm not that great on the rules and sometimes the calls go over my head but they look pretty good.
DP: I think Launceston are surprising many people in how they're going after so much player movement over the off-season. When they're on they're really good and hopefully they can bring that consistency to finals.
- Apart from each other, who's you favourite player?
DP: This could be dangerous. Fletcher Seymour. He's obviously had a really good year this year coming back from Clarence and surprised a lot of people with his form.
HL: Jamie Symons. She's been playing defence for the last few games I've seen and is very aggressive and fast so good on the turnover.
- Have you ever played each other's sports?
HL: I would have played netball in school but not as a social team or anything. I think I was OK at shooting because I was tall but don't think I'd go too well these days.
DP: I played one game of football. In year 12 we played a Grammar versus Scotch match. I absolutely loved it. It was really good. I kicked one goal. It was the highlight of my day. And we won.
- Does sport dominate your conversations?
DP: Yeah it probably does. We're both quite hard on our own performances so we try and leave that on the court or ground. But we watch a lot of football and a bit of cricket.
HL: We also watch netball when it's on TV. There's always a fair bit of sport happening.
- What's it like going to a Hawks-Cavs game?
HL: It's pretty full-on. There's a fair bit of contact on court that probably doesn't get called as much as it should. They're pretty fiery games and probably the pick of the bunch to go and watch.
- And how are the Launnie-North games?
DP: I've been to all three this year and unfortunately the boys haven't got over the line but the last game they were really competitive and I were only down by about 10 at three-quarter time. I kind of relate that rivalry to what ours and Arrows used to be in that we couldn't beat them for a very long time and once we did it was a real mental hurdle for us to know we could beat them.
- Which one of you is more famous?
HL: I reckon Danni would have to be, you've been in the paper a lot more than me.
DP: I'd have to agree with that.
- How grumpy does the other one get when they lose?
HL: Danni would be the worst. I can leave a fair bit away and not worry too much but Danni gets a fair bit ...
DP: ... caught up in it. I do. I take it very seriously.
- What are the disadvantages to being tall?
HL: I hang out of bed a far bit. I have to squeeze right up to the top. And definitely trying to find decent pants, that's hard. And just being asked how tall you are all the time. That happens a lot.
DP: Mine's probably that I can rarely wear heels when I go out whereas the other girls all do.
Diary dates
- Saturday 2pm: State League round 21, Launceston v Tigers, Windsor Park
- Saturday 4.30pm: State Netball League grand final, Hawks v Cavaliers, Silverdome
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