South Fremantle midfielder Matt Parker has capped off his sensational career-best season with one more accolade, after being named club best and fairest in 2025.
Parker’s impact on the field could not be ignored in a season where the team had plenty of strong contributors around the ground and won all but one game on the road to claim the club’s 15th premiership.
By the end of the evening, Parker was three votes ahead of runner-up Jake Florenca, who was also a crucial element of the Bulldogs’ premiership-winning midfield, while Tom Blechynden came third.
He says receiving recognition as South Fremantle’s WJ Hughes medallist is special but doesn’t top the feeling of winning a premiership.
“It took me a while to get one, but I finally got one,” he told SportFM.
“I didn’t really think about the BNF and the premiership together in the same year, but obviously, you think about it now, it’s pretty special to be able to do that in our 125th year.”
On Sandover Medal night, he came agonisingly close to achieving the league’s top honour, falling two votes short of Perth’s Charlie Constable after opting to sit out of the final round, managing a hamstring issue.
Parker could have secured the medal had he played against wooden spooners West Coast, but ultimately decided to put South Fremantle’s premiership ambitions ahead of personal achievements.
Retrospectively, he says he made the right call.
“My hammy was a bit tender, and I weighed the options up. Do I play and go for that individual award, or do I sit and rest and help my teammates try and win a premiership,” he said.
“I spoke to the coaches and the medical team on the Saturday morning against West Coast. I think we all agreed that it’s safe for me not to play.
“I thought hopefully we would get what we want as a team, and we ended up getting that. Now it makes a whole much better choice I made.”
South Fremantle was just one of the many cogs that set South Fremantle on the path to success, under new coach Craig White’s tutelage.
It was almost the complete season, aside from one stumble against West Coast during round five at Fremantle Community Bank Oval. Nonetheless, it was a season the Bulldogs could be proud of, especially during a milestone year.
Although Parker claimed the Bulldogs’ top honour and tasted flag success, Parker still believes he and his side can still go to another level next season.
“I’m going to come back hungry and then ever,”
“There’s always going to be people like Florenca. Down at the forward line, we’ve got young boys like Roan who are hungry too, and they’re young.
“You’ve got to get a couple of us older boys to step up and lead the way and let the young boys do their thing.
“It’s definitely going to be there, and we need to set standards on day one.”
IMAGE: AFL.com.au