Former BBL spinner Wil Parker to make Collingwood debut

A Collingwood rookie has come from the clouds to be named for his AFL debut after giving up cricket less than one year ago.

Jordan De Goey of the Magpies (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Collingwood will hand an AFL debut to Wil Parker only three months after he decided to shelve his cricket career and change codes.

Parker has come from the clouds to debut alongside second-year wingman Ed Allan against Fremantle on Friday night amid a raft of injuries including a fresh concern for Jordan De Goey.

The 21-year-old rebounding defender was recruited as a category B rookie by the Magpies in February after shelving his cricket aspirations following more than two years on the outskirts of the Victorian side.

Parker, a leg-spinner, made his Sheffield Shield debut as a 17-year-old in February 2020 but was overtaken in the state pecking order by Todd Murphy.

Wil Parker made his Sheffield Shield debut for Victoria as a 17-year-old but will make his AFL debut on Friday night after switching careers. Picture: Craig Golding / AAP

He played in the BBL for the Hobart Hurricanes as recently as January last year.

Allan will debut in his home state as coach Craig McRae again praised him as the “fittest player” on Collingwood’s list.

McRae has revealed Jordan De Goey’s late heroics against Adelaide were performed under duress as the Magpies star was ruled out for at least one game with a “fresh” injury.

De Goey suffered an abdominal strain during the third quarter against the Crows and pulled up sore despite playing out the match.

A hometown hero! 💫
 
2022 draftee Ed Allan will make his AFL debut on Friday night in his home state of WA. pic.twitter.com/eIVZ8zQZAQ

— Collingwood FC (@CollingwoodFC) May 21, 2024

De Goey only briefly during training at Olympic Park on Tuesday but quickly went inside after testing out the issue, which McRae said was unrelated to the groin concern which troubled him earlier this month.

“Jordy won’t play – he’s got a fresh injury, he’s got an abdominal strain. He got that in the game, and played through it, and then pulled up quite sore from it … he’s getting scans to check out what that means,” McRae said.

“This is a separate injury actually, the other one has settled down and this one has expressed itself as an abdominal strain – it’s nothing to do with the (groin issue).

“We actually worked through that process of assessing it wasn’t OP (osteitis pubis) or the start of that.”

Jordan De Goey kicked the winning goal against Adelaide (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

De Goey had returned to his former role as a deep forward against the Crows amid an ongoing injury crisis at the Magpies, but McRae said it would be softened with the return of Brody Mihocek (hamstring) and Beau McCreery (concussion) to face Fremantle in Perth on Friday night.

“It’s been a bit of a revolving door, and I said after the game (forwards coach) Scott Selwood and the gang have done an incredible job,” McRae said.

“It just hasn’t looked the same for three or four weeks now, and we’re managing to find ways to still score.

“We kicked 12 last week from a forward line that at times didn’t have any keys. We’ll find a way, (it’s) not ideal.“

McRae said the Magpies were weighing up a recall for key forward Nathan Kreuger along with potential debutants as they factored in the toll of a second consecutive six-day break on their senior players.

He again suggested matches should be shortened to ease some of the physical burden, linking the increasing pace of the game to more than 150 currently injured players across the 18 clubs.

“Our game’s giving us feedback … 150-odd injuries is a lot of feedback, it’s more than we’ve seen in our time,” McRae said.

“When there’s a problem, I look for solutions – maybe that could be a solution? I’m not here to change the game, and maybe others could decide that.

“The GPS tells us (the game is getting faster). The high-speed running is real, and there’s a cost of that, and then playing six-day (breaks) … there’s a cost of that.

“This is not a Collingwood problem, I just want to make that really clear … this is a club-wide issue that everyone is dealing with.”

Originally published as Former BBL spinner Wil Parker to make Collingwood debut