The 21-year-old Higgins told reporters on Sunday that missing the 2019 and 2020 premierships – the first due to injury and the second due to form – had motivated him even more to succeed with St Kilda.
"It has driven me a bit,"Higgins said."Obviously I have watched two grand finals … this year I didn't get picked. I want to play in a grand final and get some consistent games.
"They have some really young players like Hunter Clark … so hopefully I can be in that group and be together as a team for 10 years."
Higgins sat out the latter part of 2019 because of a bleed on the brain. He was born with a condition that meant some blood vessels in his head are prone to bleeding.
He had brain surgery in September of that year and returned to the field in round two,2020.
He then missed rounds 10-15 in 2020,and did not play again after round 15 despite being fit,missing the grand final win over Geelong.