Edmund and Cornes react to report that Pickett looks set to join Dockers after 2025 season

Melbourne small forward Kysaiah Pickett has once again been linked with a move away from the Demons, this time to Fremantle as soon as the end of the 2025 season, according to the West Australian.

The report suggests that the 23-year-old is ‘set to join Fremantle after the 2025 season’, adding that Pickett is now ‘desperate to return to WA despite being contracted until the end of the 2027 season’.

As Port Adelaide and West Coast have also previously been linked with Pickett, Kane Cornes asked his SEN Breakfast co-host Sam Edmund – who has been following Pickett’s future closely – whether or not it’s a guarantee that he’s set to depart the Dees.

While the duo don’t think Pickett is necessarily gone already, they think that the story will continue to follow Pickett as long as he remains in Melbourne given he’s reportedly not a fan of the city.

Cornes: “They’re essentially saying something would have to go drastically wrong for Kozzie Pickett not to be at Fremantle next year.

“There's a lot of smoke around this story. Do you agree with the West Australian’s suggestion that it's almost guaranteed that he’ll be at Fremantle?”

Edmund: “No, I don't know how you can say that.

“This story's been around since late 2022, when it was actually Port Adelaide who thought they were a real chance.

“In fact, if you spoke to them at the time, privately they would have said, ‘We’re on here’. But Melbourne were then confident, they were always really confident.

“I think what we've learned in the last few years is that Kozzie, and in more recent times he actually told Simon Goodwin after his exit interview last season that he might be feeling the pull from home and he’s a bit homesick or a bit unsettled.

“He's always loved the Melbourne Football Club, but he hasn't necessarily loved Melbourne, the city, that’s nothing new.

“Port Adelaide again as recently as last year thought they might have been a chance to get him.

“He's close with a few players at the Dockers is my understanding, there were some social catch-ups last year as well. I think Shai Bolton was one of them. I think that's essentially where a lot of the smoke has started, and Michael Walters is involved too … it sort of snowballs from there.

“When it comes to the crunch though, he's always stayed, and he's contracted until 2027.”

Cornes: “He signed a four-year extension in 2023 and clearly Melbourne love him … they’ll continue to say he’s going nowhere.

“But this isn't going to go away at all.”

While Fremantle gave up multiple first-round picks to land Shai Bolton last off-season, they still hold their 2025 first-round selection as well as future first round picks which could be used in a potential Pickett trade.