St Kilda forward Matty Parker on his journey from ‘the dirt’ to the big league

Matty Parker opens up on his hard upbringing, how he nearly threw away an AFL career, the people who helped changed his life and why he wears pink boots.

Matty Parker did not mind digging holes.

The alarm would go off at 4am and he would drag himself out of bed before manning the shovel for his uncle’s construction company, carving out trenches for underground gas piping.

Parker would do his best to keep his food intake in check, trained two nights a week for a Perth club and then ply his true trade on weekends.

The food was the tough part. “Smoko” was often a narrow choice.

“When there’s just a ‘Jiffy’ van coming along and you’ve got nothing, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” he laughs.

“There’d be a couple of sausage rolls and pies — it’s just part of the job.”

Now the job has changed and he is feeling “overwhelmed”, moving from local football to the WAFL and onto the AFL.

It was not always such a clear and smooth ascent.

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Parker hasn’t missed a season of footy since playing juniors at Mt Lawley, an inner suburb of Perth.

But he often lost focus, and instead lost his way.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Matty Parker, who still pinches himself to be playing AFL. Pic: Michael Klein

He’d been picked in an elite junior squad at WAFL outfit Perth Demons, but “then went off and did my own thing”.

Not that he was constantly reminded of what he had left, watching blokes he knew making AFL lists and thinking “that should be me”.

“I didn’t really think about where my footy could take me,” he said.

“I just ran amok down at footy, partying and just doing what young boys do — I wasn’t really caring about my future.”

He’d made some wrong decisions, he said, got in with a bad crowd and “was doing things I shouldn’t be doing”.

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Just what those things were, he would not elaborate.

But he said the passing of his “Pop” Richard — who virtually raised the youngster with his grandmother, Carol — a few years ago proved the catalyst for a downward spiral.

“Everything went to dirt then,” Parker says.

“Nan’s always been there. She always supported me with my footy and whichever decision I made, she supported me. Practically raised me up … I hit a bit of a rock down in the dirt, and then Nan helped me find my feet and rose up from that.”

That rise saw him move to South Fremantle where he was mentored by the likes of now-Cat Tim Kelly — who continues to encourage the young Saint — and relative Marlion Pickett, who encouraged him to knuckle down.

Matty Parker’s striking tattoos include a tribute to his beloved “Pop”, Richard. Pic: Michael Klein

Something else shifted, too. Shardah Jetta-Farmer caught his eye at a game — and changed his life.

“She thought I played (WAFL) league and I was like, ‘nah, just a reserves boy at the moment’,” he laughs.

“I ended up playing a pretty good game and she stayed around. Locked a first kiss in and it started from there. She’s been wonderful — behind the scenes she’s made it all happen.

“She’s keeping me on the straight and narrow. When I’m struggling, she’s always there to lift me up.

“All the problems back home … she made me disappear from them. I’m a much better person now. She’s made me a better person.

“Without her, I don’t think I’d be where I am.”

He was made to wait for his opportunity at South Fremantle, playing 17 reserves games before his senior debut. He didn’t look back.

The arrival of Matty Junior just over 15 months ago proved another driving force to make something of this football caper.

“He’s my little king,” Parker beams.

St Kilda's Matty Parker with son, Matty Jnr. Picture: Instagram

“I just want to give him the future that I never had. No way do I want to see him grow up the way that I did and see things and do things that I did. I want to give him that life that every little boy deserves. That’s what I’m here for.”

The football rebirth was almost complete, culminating in selection pick 47 by the Saints in last year’s draft.

There were some tears, then a move to Melbourne. He’d never been to Marvel Stadium or the MCG, and has never travelled overseas as the Saints’ trip to China looms.

And there’s those pink boots.

“I’ve always liked different colours, I’ve had half-colour boots, and then I saw the pink ones. I was like, ‘Oh, yeah! I want to rock them’,” Parker said.

“And then I rocked them. I thought, ‘I’m just a skinny lean dude so I might as well stand out somehow’. I haven’t looked back.”

The flashy boots and playing style — which he says comes naturally, but after plenty of hard work — and distinctive tattoos see him stand out from the crowd, and there’s plenty more to come with the forward adding to his impressive ink collection as recently as Monday.

“(On the left arm) I’ve got the bad side — the skulls and all that, and then the good side (on the right),” he said.

“(Like me), there’s a bit of both.

“You feel it on the bones, definitely. I got a few when I was a bit too young — I think I was 15. Silly, but they’re things you learn lessons from. Since then, I’ve kept going and eventually I’ll be covered.”

It’s the little ones that count — Shardah and Matty Jnr’s names — and Parker wants his own one-percenters to be what matter.

“To be coming into a life like this is pretty good,” he said.

“I just want to give 110 per cent back to the Saints.

“My footy’s just risen so far in the last two years, but I never could have imagined in that two years being up on an AFL list. How fast things change.

“They showed faith in me and I’ll give it back to them.”

Parker has quickly gathered an impressive highlights reel. Pic: AFL Photos

Parker is intent on making his time count. Pic: AFL Photos