{"id":134043,"date":"2020-11-25T11:48:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-25T00:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=134043"},"modified":"2020-12-03T11:30:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T00:30:11","slug":"marlion-pickett-the-truth-about-me-and-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2020\/11\/25\/marlion-pickett-the-truth-about-me-and-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Marlion Pickett: The truth about me and drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Marlion<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Marlion Pickett is an AFL footballer who plays for the Richmond Tigers. After a troubled youth, including a stint in jail, Marlion was the first AFL player to win a premiership in his debut game since 1926. His story is told for the first time in his new autobiography Belief<\/a><\/strong>, written with novelist Dave Warner.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today on the blog, we have a piece by entertainment journalist Matthew Denby, who interviewed Marlion about his troubled past with drugs and how he overcame his struggles to achieve Aussie Rules stardom. Read on …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Marlion<\/a>

Marlion Pickett (Photo by Tina Smigielski).<\/p><\/div>\n

The rise of Richmond Football Club favourite Marlion Pickett hasn\u2019t been an easy one, with the star overcoming a string of trials along the way \u2013 including a fateful dalliance with the drug ice.<\/p>\n

The star, who has successfully transformed his life following stints behind bars to become one of Australia\u2019s most beloved and successful footballers, reveals in his new book, Belief<\/em>, how he overcame the dark influences of his past.<\/p>\n\n\n

Describing an extended family environment while growing up in Western Australia that was tainted by drug abuse, Marlion confesses that illegal substances were a presence in his life from an early age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Everything would start well,\u2019 he remembers of the family get togethers that were a feature of his childhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018There was lots of food and laughing. A lot of drink and drugs too. We kids would be running around with our cousins having fun, riding bikes, playing games. It always ended in a fight. The uncles would be fighting or Dad would be fighting.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I just accepted it, you know, as normal. The drugs, alcohol, fights, that was just what happened. Mum and Dad were good and all, but in terms of family members, it was alcohol and drugs all the time.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time Marlion was 18, drugs had become a direct part of his own life. Drinking alcohol and experimenting with the drug ice, Marlion\u2019s life began to spin out of control. With the drug all over Freemantle, he found it hard to resist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Gave me a rush at first, then I felt calm,\u2019 he recalls. \u2018Your problems didn\u2019t matter anymore. At least, not till the next smoke.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He would take the drug and then sleep for days. Soon he graduated to dealing to fund his lifestyle \u2013 although he refused to sell to anyone under the age of 18. \u2018Older people, people my age, men, women, some white people. It was everywhere,\u2019 he remembers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His experiment with dealing came to an end with his growing distaste over the business \u2013 and he didn\u2019t want drugs around his young family. But the ice lifestyle played into his ill-fated decision to participate in a break-and-enter at a shopping centre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Somebody said, \u201cLet\u2019s do some shops\u201d, something like that,\u2019 he remembers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His subsequent stint in prison was enough to straighten him up, and set him on the road towards redemption. Marlion had had enough of the \u2018bullshit\u2019, and as his football career beckoned, alcohol and drugs were consigned to the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/strong>Belief<\/em> by Marlion Pickett (Simon & Schuster Australia) is out now – limited <\/b>signed copies<\/a> are available at Booktopia, but only while stocks last!<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This book is part of our 2020 Christmas Gift Guide<\/a>! You could win 1 million Qantas Points when you order any product featured in our Christmas Gift Guide between 2 November and 14 December, 2020.*<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Christmas<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Order In Stock titles by the 9th of December for your best chance of pre-Christmas delivery.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*T&Cs apply<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFL star Marlion Pickett’s road to redemption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":134052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[6677],"tags":[12157,12074,6974,2303,12156,8175,8358],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/MarlionPickett-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134043"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134043"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134398,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134043\/revisions\/134398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}