Matt Parker will again play for WAFL club South Fremantle this season.
Having returned home to Perth recently, Parker has been cleared for state league action where he will again pull on the red and white colours of the Bulldogs.
The 25-year-old joined Richmond from South Fremantle via the mid-season draft in June and played six games for the Tigers in the back half of the season.
South Fremantle coach Todd Curley said the rule was always in place for a player to return to his former club at season’s end.
“All the way through since the mid-season draft came in there was the rule in there that if the boys got picked and their AFL team doesn’t make finals there was the ability for them to go back and play with their club,” Curley explained on SEN’s Bob & Andy.
“We’re lucky, we’ve got a pretty good relationship that we’ve built up with the Tigers over the last few years with some players and a lot of discussion.
“When we put it to them they were very supportive. Matt is desperate to play and had already been back in Perth, so it’s a no-brainer from our end. It’s a rule that’s there and the kid should play.
“Once the season ended, Matty’s family organised themselves to come back. Because they’ve only been there for a short time, they’re still WA residents, so made their own way back.
“It’s only the last four or five days that we’ve really started to think about the possibility of getting him back to play with us. Once those discussions happened with Richmond it all moved pretty quickly.”
The South Fremantle-Richmond relationship has been in full effect for a few years now, highlighted by the Tigers’ inspired 2019 mid-season draft selection of Marlion Pickett.
Curley says the partnership has only grown stronger since.
“The Tigers have been fantastic,” he added.
“We haven’t been able to move freely between the states for a while, but we were lucky enough to be there in 2019 when Marlion played in the Grand Final.
“The efforts of Blair Hartley and the Richmond footy club to involve us and get us to training and those sort of things were fantastic.
“It’s built from there.”
The Bulldogs coach admits there were some happy teammates once the news of Parker’s return was confirmed.
“All I saw was a lot of smiling faces when we announced that he was going to come back and play,” Curley said further.
“He’s one of ours and he’s one of our leaders and we’re rapt to get him back.”
Curley says Parker will operate in a variety of roles including as a deep forward, a high forward and in the midfield.
Parker, who will not play this weekend because of quarantine, will return to Punt Road at the conclusion of the WAFL season.
The former St Kilda forward was in superb form in the WAFL earlier this year, averaging 20 disposals and four tackles across seven matches.
South Fremantle and Claremont clash at the Fremantle Community Bank Oval from 2:40pm (AWST) on Saturday, with minor premier Subiaco awaiting the winner in next weekend’s Preliminary Final.
West Perth and Swan Districts meet in the Elimination Final on Sunday, with the winner to take on the loser of the South Fremantle-Claremont match.