Luke Parker is facing an even longer stint out of Sydney’s AFL side after a collision that sent a Frankston player to hospital with facial injuries and is likely to attract a multi-week suspension.
As the Swans smashed Carlton by 52 points on Friday night in front of more than 44,000 fans at the SCG, Parker was in Melbourne’s south-east playing his fourth consecutive match for Sydney’s reserve team in the VFL, having been unable to break into their best 23 since recovering from a broken arm suffered in pre-season.
An injury to Robbie Fox may have finally opened the door for him, but Parker’s bump on Frankston player Josh Smith is likely to block him from an AFL return.
The 31-year-old had run past the ball in Sydney’s 15-point defeat to Frankston when he collected Smith, leaving him with a reported broken cheekbone. The VFL will hand down Parker’s sanction on Monday but, if history in the top grade is any judge, he is likely to be banned for several weeks.
Former North Melbourne champion David King said on SEN Radio he believed Parker deserved a suspension of at least five games, describing his action as exactly the type the AFL was trying to stamp out of the sport.
Parker saw plenty of the footy, amassing 26 touches with nine clearances, and loomed as the obvious replacement for Fox, who hurt the AC joint in his shoulder – or for Chad Warner, if the match review officer sanctions him for attempting to fend off Carlton’s Marc Pittonet with a raised forearm in the final quarter of Friday’s 17.15 (117) to 9.11 (65) win over the Blues.
It was the sixth time in 10 games the Swans have scored more than 100 points this season, and only once have they been held below 86. Riding a six-game winning streak, Sydney are averaging 103 points a game and conceding just 66 – a form line so strong that coach John Longmire has been unable to find a player who deserved to be dropped to make way for the club’s former co-captain.
Their sizzling 9-1 start to the season has put them eight points clear of second-placed Geelong, though Essendon can cut their lead to six and move to second by beating last-placed North Melbourne on Sunday.
In their first season since the retirement of legendary spearhead Lance Franklin, the competition’s all-time fourth-highest goalkicker, Sydney have successfully shared the scoring load.
No one player is dominating the scoring, with five men kicking between 15 and 20 goals, and a sixth in double figures.
Luke Parker is facing a lengthy ban.Credit: AFL Photos
Among those half-dozen players are in-form midfielders Isaac Heeney and Warner, whose three-goal hauls and incisive play were a significant factor in the Swans overturning a four-goal deficit early in the game.
“Our mids, forwards have an even spread of goalkickers and that’s been a strength so far,” Longmire said.
Longmire said his midfield also did a good job of spreading their workload, describing Warner as damaging and ruckman Brodie Grundy as terrific.
The veteran coach praised his players for turning the game around before he got to speak to them at quarter time.
Longmire is renowned for not getting carried away when his team is on a hot streak. He was more concerned about looking ahead to Thursday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs than talking up the Swans’ scintillating start to the season.
“It might sound to everyone on the outside saying ‘he’s just playing a straight bat again’, but internally that’s what we do,” Longmire said. “We acknowledge what we did well, and there’s a few fantastic efforts tonight, but we’ll also look at something we can improve and we’ll do that.”
