AFTER a solid debut season last year, Melbourne forward Kysaiah Pickett was hungry for more.

The 20-year-old got a small taste of success in front of goals, collecting seven majors over 14 games, but felt he wasn’t using all his opportunities to his advantage.

“Last year I missed a lot of goals, so this year I wanted to capitalise on those opportunities and take my chances,” Pickett told Melbourne Media.

And he has done just that.

This year Pickett hasn’t missed a beat, playing all 22 games in the AFL side, and kicking a total of 35 goals.

The small forward has become an integral member of the side’s success and has now been recognised for his efforts, featuring in the AFL Player’s Associations 22Under22 team. 

The team consists of the league’s top talent aged 22 and under with Pickett named in the side’s forward line.

Having spent the past twelve months developing his craft, Pickett says his improvement comes from working closely with Forward Coach, Greg Stafford alongside Player Development Manager, Shannon Byrnes.

“Staff has been the main influence along with Byrnes, who also works with all the small forwards in improving goal-kicking.

“Throughout the whole season Nibbler and Spargs have also been really influential to me, I lean on them a lot with everything because they’re smart footballers.

“We all work well together as a team.”

After finishing just outside the top eight last year, the Demons have since had a major shift in form, taking out the minor premiership on Saturday night and putting themselves in a strong position ahead of the 2021 finals series.

Pickett said the shift in form came down to the club’s positive environment and teamwork.

“The culture is a step up from last year, everyone’s on board and we’ve been working really well as a team,” Pickett said.

“Goody’s also been really close with all the players this year, so he’s been a key aspect in the whole team’s form.

“It’s just all going really well.”

Majority of Melbourne’s side will be preparing for their finals debut this coming Saturday night against Brisbane, but the No.36 said he’s not feeling the pressure heading into his first AFL final.

“I’m not nervous, but I’m excited, I think everyone’s excited,” Pickett said.

“At the start of the year, we just wanted to finish as high as possible, so we hadn’t really spoken about finals.

“But now we want to get this week done and then hopefully we can keep that momentum and keep going.”

With Melbourne’s Saturday night game taking place at Adelaide Oval, Victorian-based Demons fans have been forced to show their support from home.

“When the Dees fans are there it’s a whole different atmosphere, so having them there would obviously be better,” Pickett said.  

“But seeing as we can’t have them all there, just doing them proud is what we’ll be thinking about.

“For us, it’s just about making our Dees fans and our families proud.”