Sydney veteran Luke Parker has refused to rule out a move to North Melbourne in the twilight of his AFL career.
The 2012 premiership player didn’t play seniors until Round 18 after an injury and suspension-riddled start to the year, and was heavily linked to a move to the Kangaroos during his time out of the side.
Asked if his future would be at Sydney beyond 2024, Parker said it was “at the moment”.
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“I’m contracted to Sydney, I’m looking forward to this finals series,” said Parker, whose deal at the Swans ends next year, on SEN.
“You can never rule out what the future looks like. At the end of the year, I’ll sit down (and) talk to the coaches and the footy club about what the future looks like, but at the moment, I’m contracted and just enjoying this finals series and focusing on that.”
Parker was coy when pressed on whether the Kangaroos had reached out.
“That’s what my manager’s doing at the moment,” Parker deflected.
“I said, ‘I’ll focus on football, you do what you do’, so at the moment, I’m just focusing on the footy.”
His refusal to deny suggestions that the Roos have been in touch with him or his manager will do nothing to quell inevitable further speculation around his future as the trade period approaches.
The 291-game champion would provide some much-needed experience to a young and developing North Melbourne list that has also just lost three-time premiership player Liam Shiels to retirement.
After a strong pre-season, Parker didn’t get to the start line because of a broken arm suffered in a practice match against GWS.
On return, he was made to earn his way back into the AFL side, playing four VFL games in a row.
But just as he was close to earning a recall Parker infamously sent Frankston player Josh Smith to hospital with a crunching bump off the ball, for which he was slapped with a six-week suspension.
Since coming back into the AFL team the former captain has reinvented himself into a damaging forward, kicking 11 goals from his eight games this season.
“Unfortunately, I’ve had about three pre-seasons in one year, which no one wants to do,” Parker said.
“The first one, with the arm injury, I was feeling really good (in the) pre-season going into the first Giants practice match (and) obviously broke my arm there.
“So, I had about 10 weeks where the first month or two was a bit more about recovery and getting back to full fitness and trusting your body again (that) the arm’s going to hold up.
“(Then) I played a few games in the reserves, I was feeling really good then and confident in myself to return.
“With the suspension, that was kind of when I sat down and was like, ‘Alright, what’s this next six, seven weeks going to look like’, so (that) come the back end of the season, I can have an impact and really contribute to the team.
“The worst thing is when you’re fully fit and can’t play. Normally with an injury, you’re slowly building up a program.
“My thing was to try and create game-like scenarios as much as possible, and just keep a positive mindset. You can get very drained just counting down the weeks.”