Jack Higgins (Australian footballer)

Higgins was invited to attend the national draft combine in Melbourne in October 2017.[23] He placed second in the class for the kicking test, missing just one of an available 30 points.[24][25]

Prior to draft Higgins was lauded for his football IQ, goal sense, his ability to win the ball in the forward half and his scoring ability, both as a midfielder and a forward.[26][19] AFL Draft Central projected Higgins to be taken with a late first round pick, while AFL Media's Callum Twomey projected Higgins to be taken with the 11th overall pick in his draft day phantom draft.[19][27]

TAC Cup

Under 18 National Championships

Higgins was drafted by Richmond with the club's first pick and the 17th selection overall, the last pick of the 1st round in the 2017 AFL national draft.[28][29]

He demonstrated impressive running ability while training as a midfielder in his first AFL pre-season, before playing his first football in Richmond colours at the AFLX exhibition tournament in Sydney in February 2018.[30][31][32][33] He also played limited minutes in the club's first official pre-season match, recording five disposals against Essendon in Wangaratta.[34] He could not hold his spot into the final match of that series however, instead playing a practice match with the club's reserves side in the VFL.[35] There he stayed through the first week of the AFL season, kicking two goals in a VFL practice match win over the Northern Blues.[36] Higgins flew as a travelling emergency with the club's senior side to Adelaide the following week before playing another VFL practice match the next day, this time racking up 22 disposals, six marks, five tackles and a goal.[37] Following that match, Higgins was selected to make his AFL debut against Hawthorn at the MCG in round 3.[31][38] He kicked two goals in his debut, the first of which came from from his first kick in league football and the second which earned him a nomination for the Goal of the Week.[39][40][41][42][43] Despite this strong performance, Higgins was omitted from the round 4 side chosen to face the Brisbane Lions the following week, owing to the injury return of premiership players Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy.[44] He sat out just one match, returning to AFL football with a team-high three goals in round 5's ANZAC Day eve match against Melbourne.[45][46] He thus became the first Richmond player to kick multiple goals in the first two matches of their career since Justin Plapp did so in 1998.[47] Higgins added another two goals in round 6, and played senior matches in each of the next two weeks before being a late withdrawal from the selected side in round 9.[48] He played .[49] Higgins spent just one week on the sidelines before returning in round 10, this time becoming the subject of major news story when he was disallowed a goal on a score-review that the AFL later admitted was incorrect.[50][51][52][53] Head coach Damien Hardwick flagged an intent to give Higgins more midfield time after his roudnd 15 performance in which he gathered 20 disposals in his side's victory over Sydney.[54] He also earned praise from Richmond vice-captain Jack Riewoldt who praised Higgins' work off-ball, an area he said was often a weakness in first-year players.[55] To that point he ranked second for total goal assists, third for score involvements per game, fourth for contested possessions per game and fifth for total tackles inside 50 among all Rising Star eligible players in the league that season.[56] In round 16 he recorded a season-best 25 disposals in his side's victory over Adelaide and two weeks later he received a Rising Star nomination for an 18 disposal, four clearance and one goal contribution to his side's round 18 win over St Kilda.[57].[58] Higgins received another award nomination the following week, this time for Goal of the Year for a goal-line scissor kick against Collingwood which 3AW commentator Tim Lane referred to as “one of the greatest, most creative goals ever kicked in 120 years of (the sport).”[59] The goal attracted significant controversy however, with some commentators and fans labeling it a throw as it required Higgins to elevate the ball into the air while his body traveled around the goal-line in the act of kicking.[60] Umpiring officials later supported the on-field umpire's decision to award the goal as Higgins' action to put the ball into the air was deemed to come in the action of kicking.[61] Higgins continued to earn selection at senior level into the finals series, where he recorded 20 disposals, eight score involvements and one goal in his side's qualifying final win over Hawthorn.[62][63] He was named by AFL Media as one of Richmond's best players in the following match, a shock preliminary final loss to Collingwood in which he kicked two of his side's eight goals.[64] At season's end Higgins was nominated for the AFL Players Association's Best First-Year Player, placed fourth in the AFL Rising Star and won Richmond's best first year player award.[65][66][67] He also received the Goal of the Year award for his round 19 scissor-kick goal.[68] Higgins finished 2018 having played 20 matches and ranked first for contested possessions, goal assists and score involvements per game across Rising Star eligible players that year.[67]

Higgins kicks during play in round 20, 2018

In the 2018/19 off-season, Higgins changed guernsey numbers to the number 13 and spent time training for a positional change to include more time as a midfielder.[69][70] He began the year by being drafted to and playing for the Nat Fyfe captained Flyers team in the 2019 AFLX exhibition tournament in late February.[71][72] Following that competition he played in each of Richmond's two official pre-season matches, where he averaged 20 disposals and two goals a game.[73] In the opening round of the season-proper Higgins was impressive, earning a nomination for the league's Goal of the Week for a forward-pocket snap that was one of his three goals that night.[74] That performance was strong enough to see him earn selection to AFL Media's Team of the Week.[75] After kicking a total of three goals across his next two matches, Higgins was moved to a midfield role in round 4 following the loss of Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin to injury and suspension respectively.[76][77][78][79] While in the midfield he twice equaled his career-best with 25 disposals in back-to-back games in rounds 5 and 6.[76] Higgins continued to play a hybrid forward-midfield role through the club's round 14 bye, but going goalless and failing to make a significant impact with an average of 13 disposals per game over the last three matches of that period.[76] After the bye, and after 28 consecutive matches for Richmond at AFL level, Higgins was dropped from the club's round 14 side and forced to play reserves grade football in the VFL.[80][81] He was lively at the level, playing more midfield minutes than he had in AFL matches and averaging 23 disposals and a goal a game over three matches.[82][83][84]

He would fail to play again at any level that season however, when a series of severe headaches in mid July led to Higgins being admitted to hospital with a brain bleed.[85] The condition was identified as a previously undiagnosed blood vessel weakness that would require surgery to repair but that could be corrected permanently and that place Higgins under no serious continuing health risk.[86] In late July, he underwent a non-invasive surgery meant to correct the condition and allow for a return to football for the start of the 2020 season.[87][88][89] A review of his condition one month later however, showed the need for a second, more extensive surgery in September.[90][91] Estimates at that time suggested his basic recovery could take as long as six months and effectively rule him out from match play for most of the 2020 season.[92] He was discharged from hospital in mid-September and participated in light jogging at the club in the week prior to the AFL grand final.[93][94] Higgins played 13 AFL matches as well as three games at VFL level in 2019 and was one of just six players on the list to feature in neither the AFL nor VFL premierships that year.[95][76][96]

Upon an all-clear diagnosis on his brain bleed, Higgins made a return to self-supervised training in the last week of October 2019 and a return to light duties at club training in December.[97][98][99] Showing remarkable progress, Higgins participated in contact training in January 2020, and in match simulation in February.[100][101][102] He made his return to match-play in the club's first pre-season game, contributing six disposals in limited minutes but missing out on selection for the second and final pre-season match.[103][104][105] Instead, he kicked an equal team-high four goals in a VFL practice match in the first week March and was scheduled to play in another the following week that was eventually cancelled due to safety concerns as a result of the rapid progression of the coronavirus pandemic into Australia.[106][107]