MATT Parker didn’t hear back from Blair Hartley. The pair met for coffee inside an Adelaide hotel midway through last year the day before Parker kicked two goals for Western Australia in the state game against South Australia. The Tigers had a spot available in the mid-season rookie draft, but Hartley kept his cards close to his chest.

The next time Richmond's general manager of football talent contacted the West Australian was shortly after the Tigers pounced at pick No.10 in last year's mid-season rookie draft. No other club had shown interest in Parker, but the Tigers decided to go back to the well that produced Marlion Pickett and try and see if lightning could strike twice.

Six months on from being cut adrift from St Kilda, after playing 19 games across two seasons, Parker was back in Melbourne and back in the AFL. And it didn’t take him long to earn a spot in Damien Hardwick's team, where he remained for the final six games of 2021.

Many in the industry – including some inside Moorabbin – were surprised Parker had been delisted after such a bright start to his career. But with small children a long way from home, the hub was more challenging for some than for others in 2020.

Now there is a belief that being forced to return to South Fremantle and face his AFL mortality could prove to be the making of Parker. The 26-year-old didn’t sulk when he didn’t get another deal at St Kilda. Instead, he returned to Perth a more mature version than the one who left two years earlier and let his football do the talking.

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"I think it was a good lesson for me getting delisted by St Kilda," Parker - who took his career tally to 25 games in 2021 - told AFL.com.au last week.

"I went back and just worked on my game and had that attitude that I wanted to prove everybody wrong and get back to where I wanted to be. If you don’t like it then that’s on you, but I'm going to put my best foot forward.

"There were some things behind the scenes that didn’t work out. I copped it on the chin and went back and put my best foot forward for Souths and took that attitude that I'm never going to give up – which I never will – lucky enough Richmond picked me up."

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Parker didn’t have to look too far for a familiar face when he arrived at Punt Road. Pickett is practically family. The pair played together at South Fremantle alongside West Coast star Tim Kelly – who dragged Parker from C-grade amateur football down to South Fremantle ahead of 2017 – and have ridden some of life's bumps together.

Now they live down the road from each other in Thornbury, helping provide their kids – Pickett has four, Parker now has three after the recent arrival of his daughter – with a strong sense of family while living on the other side of the country, which has felt like the other side of the world during the pandemic.

"Marlion and I played at Souths together then I went and he came over. It's a bit of a coincidence that we've ended up here together," Parker said.

"My journey started with him so there was a bit of a brotherly love moment there. He's always been the big brother I never had; I've always said that. I'm always there for him. Obviously we don’t have much family over here so we're always getting around the kids, the nephews and nieces. We're always around each other having a laugh."

Before Parker packed up his life and moved back to Melbourne last June, he had to go back to Safety Bay Senior High School in southern Perth to collect his belongings from the staffroom, much to the delight of footy mad students who were pumped to see him get another opportunity in the AFL.

In a sign of his growth away from football, Parker found employment as an Aboriginal Islander Education Officer, which didn’t go unnoticed by those at South Fremantle. It not only helped him pay the bills, it also helped him give back to those who had walked a similar path to him growing up. And it sure as hell beat the back-breaking holes he used to dig for an underground gas company when he first played for Souths.

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"I just wanted to try something different and try help some young kids and Indigenous kids and create a pathway. Obviously don’t take the hard route when you've got an easy route there, you've got the opportunities now while you're young, so take it. That brought me a bit of joy," he said.

"Some kids have it harder than other kids, so to help them with what I've been through and give them a bit of advice, if they take it they take it, the advice is always there. When I ended up getting picked up and seeing the kids smiles when I went back to pick up my stuff was pretty awesome. It was really special."

South Fremantle Football Club is a massive part of Parker and Pickett's story. Without the influence of coach Todd Curley and many involved at the Bulldogs, including their manager, Anthony Van Der Wielen, from Empire Sports Management, Parker and Pickett wouldn’t be playing in the AFL. It is a big reason why Parker decided to go back to Perth at the end of last season to try and help South Fremantle win a second consecutive premiership.

In a move that would have been unfathomable before the pandemic, Richmond temporarily released Parker to play for the WAFL club in the finals after reaching an agreement with the West Australian Football Commission. The Bulldogs fell just short, but Parker played all four finals, ending a wild season in red and white, where it started six months earlier. 

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Now Parker finds himself at another football club with a rich Indigenous history, both past and present, one that embraces multiculturalism. With Maurice and Daniel Rioli, Shane Edwards, Sydney Stack, Shai Bolton and Pickett all at the Swinburne Centre, as well as Xavier Clarke coaching the VFL program, not many clubs are as well represented as the Tigers.

Six games was a strong start for Parker in 2022, but it's only a start. Now he has his heart set on playing more and proving to St Kilda they made a mistake giving him the flick.

"If I could swear and say what I want, I would, but I'm very grateful for the opportunity Richmond have given me. Now I've got a point to prove," he said.

"I don’t get many opportunities; I had it taken away from me so quick, so I'm just trying to stay here as long as I can.

"Forty-four players want to play round one as well. We all want to play round one. You've got to do the hard work now and hopefully it pays off with a game in round one. If it's not round one, I'll keep working away. No point putting your head down or not believing in yourself, you've got to stay confident and when it comes, take it with both hands. Coming off six games can hopefully lead to more."

Now Parker and Hartley work in the same building. They cross paths almost every day. Life has changed enormously for Parker since they sat down for a latte in Adelaide.