TOM Hickey has been handed a special honour by his new club in the form of the number one guernsey.
The former Gold Coast ruckman will wear the jumper number made famous at the Saints by former captain and club icon Trevor Barker.
Barker wore no. 25 in his first two years at St Kilda but it was no. 1 where he made his name as a high-flying, courageous if undersized defender from 1977 to 1989.
Barker captained the Saints from 1983 to 1986 and represented Victoria on seven occasions. He was a dual club best and fairest winner – the award that was renamed in his honour after his death from bowel cancer in 1996.
Hickey said it was a privilege to inherit the number that became available after Jason Gram’s departure at the end of 2012.
“You walk around Linen House Centre and you see paintings and photos of Trevor Barker everywhere,” Hickey told saints.com.au.
“You can see how highly he was regarded by the Saints and it is an honour for me to wear the no. 1 jumper.”
Barker was not the only Saint to wear the jumper with distinction. Colin Watson wore no. 1 in his final two seasons at the Saints, years after he won the second ever Brownlow medal.
Other big names of the time such as David McNamara and Welles Eicke were brief custodians of the number, as was former skipper Harry Lever.
Back-pocket Roger Head wore no. 1 in the 1966 premiership team, while in more recent times Justin Peckett wore the jumper for most of his 252 games with the Saints.
Draftee Josh Saunders is the newest occupant of the no. 35 guernsey made famous by Robert Harvey.
Harvey wore 35 for all but four of his 383 games with St Kilda, winning two Brownlow medals and four club best and fairests in a glittering career.
Harvey’s jumper legacy was evident by the fact it was retired for several seasons after his retirement at the end of 2008. Jamie Cripps was the most recent occupant of the number before he was traded to West Coast at the end of 2012.
Tomorrow: saints.com.au will reveal the new numbers for Tom Lee, Lewis Pearce, Spencer White, Nathan Wright, Brodie Murdoch, Trent Dennis-Lane and Dylan Roberton.
