Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
(VFL). Picken was still at school when he arrived at Collingwood in 1974 from Macarthur as a forward, but he developed into a talented centre-half back.
Despite playing in four losing grand finals, Picken maintained his reputation as a finals performer and was recognised for his contributions when he was named in the Collingwood Team of the Century. A notable example of his exploits was a
spectacular mark
A spectacular mark (also known as a specky, speckie, speccy, screamer or hanger) is a mark (or catch) in Australian rules football that typically involves a player jumping up on the back of another player.
The spectacular mark has become a much ...
in the 1979 grand final.
Picken was a dashing defender, capable of taking a spectacular mark and dashing off with the ball turning defence into attack in an instant.
When Picken controversially moved to the Swans in 1984, he was hit by a succession of injuries for the first time in his career. He later returned to Victoria Park to captain-coach the reserves.
Picken is the father of former
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
player,
Liam Picken
Liam Picken (born 1 August 1986) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2009 to 2017. In 2016 he played in the Bulldogs' premiership team (the club's first since ...
and former
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...
player
Marcus Picken
Marcus Picken (born 9 October 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Picken is the son of former Collingwood star Billy Picken, older brother of former West ...
, and also the uncle of former Brisbane Lions captain Jonathan Brown.
He also played first-grade cricket for
Collingwood Cricket Club
Camberwell Magpies Cricket Club is an Australian cricket team competing in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition. The club formed in 1996 from an amalgamation of Collingwood Cricket Club, a foundation member of Victorian Premier Cricket in 190 ...
, and had the dubious distinction of being the first first-grade cricketer ever to be suspended by the
Victorian Cricket Association
Cricket Victoria (CV) is the governing body for the sport of cricket in the Australian state of Victoria. It was formed on 29 September 1875 as the Victorian Cricket Association. It is integrated with the Victorian Women's Cricket Association to ...