Debutant Pickett lights up AFL grand final

The way he tells it, footy is his happy place, and he doesn't differentiate between local footy and playing in front of 100,000 people at the MCG.

"If I'm playing local, WAFL, AFL - footy's footy," Pickett told reporters amid jubilant scenes in the Tigers' rooms after Saturday's grand-final triumph.

"Footy is home. It takes my mind off a lot of things.

"If I'm playing footy, I enjoy the day."

One blind turn in traffic was all it took for Pickett, the first AFL grand-final debutant in 67 years, to show he belonged on the big stage.

By the end of Saturday's decider, his place in Richmond folklore was assured.

Pickett's mesmerising performance was the highlight of the Tigers' 17.12 (114) to 3.7 (25) blowout victory over GWS.

Six days after being voted best-afield in the Tigers' VFL premiership victory, Pickett gathered 22 disposals, had eight inside-50s and brought the house down when he slotted a set-shot goal in the third quarter.

The livewire midfielder finished third to Dustin Martin in the Norm Smith Medal count, polling four votes.

A 27-year-old father of four, who did jail time as a teenager and was recruited in the mid-season draft, Pickett was already a compelling story when he was picked as just the sixth player to debut in a VFL/AFL grand final.

His maiden AFL performance more than equalled the irresistible romance of his narrative.

"I don't class myself as a hero, I class myself as a teammate," Pickett said.

"Probably the reason why I'm here doing what I'm doing is because of the obstacles I have faced in life.

"All the sacrifices I had to make (to) keep putting my family first."

Thrown into the thick of the action from the minute he took the field, Pickett provided an audacious highlight in the second term when he completed a full 360 to spin out of trouble and kicked lace-out to Jason Castagna.

Minutes later, Pickett found space and hit up Martin for the Brownlow Medallist to kick his second major.

By the time Dusty returned the favour in the third term, forgoing a shot at goal to give Pickett his chance to shine, the game was all but over.

But what a moment it was.

Pickett kicked truly, the crowd erupted and every Richmond player on the ground swarmed to him.

"I (saw) Dusty looking at me," Pickett said.

"So I was thinking 'I'll just keep here', then he ended up hitting me up.

"I thanked him after for the goal."

Pickett earlier had his jumper presented to him by former Tiger Shaun Grigg - the man whose retirement made his remarkable debut possible.

The 2017 premiership player called time on his career in May, opening up a spot for the Tigers to recruit Pickett.

Australian Associated Press