McPharlin’s strong pre-season doesn’t please everyone
Veteran Fremantle defender Luke McPharlin says he is as surprised as anyone about how well his pre-season has gone.
McPharlin said retiring crossed his mind when he sustained a string of soft tissue injuries during last season, but had believed he had more football left in him.
“Certainly that thought crossed my mind about the third time I injured myself last year,” he said today, looking ahead to Sunday’s blockbuster season opener against Port Adelaide at Domain Stadium.
“It wasn’t looking too good in the latter half of the year but I got myself back to a position to continue and to come back into the prelim final if we were to progress past the semifinal and so I was physically and mentally ready to go.
“Unfortunately that result didn’t go the way we all wanted.
“So I felt I was ready to go again and there was no games left and I still thought I had some footy left in me so I made that clear to the coaching staff and then the rest was a conversation involving a lot of other people.”
But McPharlin admitted his wife was far from happy about his decision to play on.
“We sort of tried to have a chat at the start of the year but she doesn't believe me anymore because she thought I'd retire three or four years ago,” he said. “So we're just going to leave it and see what happens.”
The 33-year-old said the key to his faultless summer had been focusing on strength work in his legs, particularly his troublesome calf area.
The 2012 All-Australian was putting no ceiling on how many games he would play in 2015.
McPharlin said he was keen to get the games under way after an off-season of off-field dramas and drug scandals.
“I think there has been so much going on off the field the last few months and I’m certainly really excited just to play some football, I think everyone in the AFL community and the broader community are looking forward to the season starting,” he said.
“As far as the off field stuff is concerned, we understand that there’s a process to be undertaken with all those things and these things take longer.
“We’re a few days out from round one and it’s a very exciting time to be around a football club and I’m sure the wider community are thrilled we are going to see a bouncedown in a couple of days time.”
McPharlin said the players were continuing to support tagger Ryan Crowley, who is awaiting a AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal hearing on May 1 to decide his playing future.
“Understandably he's under a bit of duress,” he said.
“But he's been dealing with it as best he can and the playing group is supporting him and he knows he's got to go through this process and we'll deal with the result when it comes. “We're all around him and I think it's great that he's still here and involved with everyone.
“It's disappointing for him, it's disappointing for the team. “He's a quality player, we'd like to have him playing for us. “But these things happen and he has to deal with the consequences.”
