North Melbourne recruit Luke Parker says veteran player movement will increase

The business of success in the AFL could lead to the end of the game’s romantic traditions according to a star veteran who was forced to move clubs.

Veteran star Luke Parker is adamant one-club players will become “very rare” having being pushed out of the Sydney Swans after 15 seasons still with “plenty of football” left in him.

Parker, 32, played 293 games with the Swans since his 2011 debut before being traded to North Melbourne where he’s signed a two-year deal.

That will take him into seasons 15 and 16 and towards 350 games.

Despite his lengthy tenure in red and white, Parker senses a shift in club priorities at the Swans and signalled it could be a broader theme across the AFL when it came to long-serving players who could find themselves shifting unexpectedly in the future.

“I probably always had in my head that I’d be a one-club player, but these days things do change really quickly and clubs go in a different direction,” he said.

“That is going to happen more and more these days. I think it will be very rare to see a one-club player as they get over the 12 to 13-year mark.”

Luke Parker is loving life at North Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein

Parker, a former co-captain at the Swans, multiple best and fairest winner and a premiership player in 2012, said he sensed a long way out that the club was moving in a different direction, one that likely did not include him.

“It probably wasn’t until this year or halfway through,” Parker said on SEN Breakfast.

“For me, it was basically that I started to feel that the club or certain things were heading in a new direction. The club has got to do what is best for the club, and I can fully understand that.

“I still felt that I had a lot of good football ahead of me and a lot to offer. I wasn’t too confident in what my future looked like at the Swans, so that was really the reason that I started to look around.”

Despite his veteran status, Parker is adamant he’s not trying to “milk” any more games out and wants to be a part of the Kangaroos’ resurgence.

“I wasn’t coming here to milk my career for an extra couple of years and just get through to see how long I could play for,” he added.

“I’m a pretty competitive person, I always want to win, so I’m not coming here to get an extra few years and hopefully help a few boys and develop the team. I’m here to take us to where we want to go and to where I want to go.

"I'm loving Luke (Parker), having him around, teaching me a few things, going head-to-head … I'm really excited to play with him."

These two, at a centre bounce, wearing the same colours?

Keeeeeen.#Kangaspic.twitter.com/NwvtdPJexn

— North Melbourne FC (@NMFCOfficial) December 16, 2024

“I’ve got full belief that there’s a possibility of that with my time here.

“That’s the thing that surprised me. I think we’re actually a lot closer than what people on the outside would think.”

North Melbourne will play Sydney in round 5 next season.

Originally published as North Melbourne recruit Luke Parker says veteran player movement will increase