Alex Hickey will create a unique slice of history if the St Joseph’s captain finds himself hoisting the 2025 GFNL premiership cup alongside Ron Watt on Friday afternoon.
A Joeys win over St Mary’s will see Hickey become the first player to feature in four senior premierships at the club.
Hickey, who captained St Joseph’s to its most recent flag under Heath Jamieson in 2018, was one of seven players to feature in the three flags the club won in four years.
The other six – Ben Capra, Joe Macula, Jackson Davis, Riley Kershaw, Daniel Measures, and Riley Ferguson – have either retired or are playing elsewhere.
However, with 18 of his teammates yet to taste premiership success at Joeys, the chance to see more players added to the club’s list of premiership players is driving Hickey.
“There’s only a handful that have done it before, and I’m probably more driven by making sure the guys that haven’t done it get to taste what it’s like,” he said.
“Because I feel like once you get that taste – people say, ‘Oh, you’ve won a few, surely you’re satisfied’ – I feel like you get hungrier, and that thirst to win more, it becomes a bit of an obsession.
“I just more want the guys that haven’t done it to experience what it’s like, so they can have that bond that I’ve got to have with my mates in the previous era.”
St Joseph’s first grand final appearance in seven years arrives 12 months later than many expected after the club carved its way through the 2024 home-and-away season.
Joeys became just the second team to win all 18 games in competition history, but were bundled out of the premiership race by eventual grand finalists Leopold and South Barwon.
Hickey says the disappointment provided plenty of motivation through the pre-season.
“We’re blessed with having such a young group, and I think it was a really big lesson on what finals footy is compared to the home and away season,” he said.
“And I think we definitely said, after that defeat, that we wanted to take something away from that, and I guess we’re ready to make amends.
We had a great opportunity against Colac to do that.
“We probably got ourselves into a similar spot to 12 months earlier, in terms of getting that short lead and having a team throw everything at us and be able to absorb it.
“So it was great to see that the work that we had been doing and everything we had been discussing had paid off.
“We just need to find a way to repeat it once more.”
Hickey will make his 150th appearance for St Joseph’s in the decider, which have all come at senior level.
Brother James, who played in the 2017 and 2018 flags, will play his 150th open-age game, of which 144 of the previous 149 have been 1st XVIII games.
Add in mum Sue Cormack leading the club as president and dad Chris serving as football director, and it’s a real family affair.
“(I) got to share the last couple with my brother and sharing it with family, and I’ve even got a child now; getting to share it with her… that’s what makes it a special touch, really getting to share it with people you cherish so much,” he said.
“I can’t wait to put big smiles on all their faces if we get it done.”
X: @krockfootball
