When they were growing up, Wil Parker and Jake Fraser McGurk always dreamed of playing cricket for Australia together.

For many years, it appeared likely, with the pair playing Sheffield Shield games together for Victoria, as well as joining BBL franchises, as they both navigated their formative years in professional sport.

But only a little over 100 days ago, Parker changed his mind – he wanted to play AFL again.

He’d always grown up loving and playing footy – touted as one of the best players in the 2020 draft class before the teenager chose to hone his craft at leg spin rather than the drop punt.

But after three years in the professional cricket system saw him not getting as many opportunities as he would’ve liked, the itch for football started to return with vigour.

For Fraser-McGurk – who in the same 100 day period since Parker joined Collingwood has become a global sensation by taking the Indian Premier League by storm – it’s been a rapid turnaround as he remembers the pair’s first conversations about his then-housemate returning to the footy field. 

“We were living together for a period there so there would be little chats where I’d be like ‘what are you doing today?’ and he’d be like ‘I’m gonna talk to this club or this club’,” Fraser-McGurk recalled on Tuesday.

“And I was like, ‘are you potentially thinking of going back and playing footy?’ and it was like it sort of depends on where cricket winds up, obviously he wasn’t getting as many opportunities as he would’ve liked there.

“He knew it was at the back of his mind so for him to be able to do that and change codes at such a young age is crazy.”

And while the code switch is “crazy”, Parker’s rise to be able to make his senior debut after just five games at VFL level might be even crazier.

But the day was made even more special for the two best mates, for earlier on Tuesday morning, the 21-year-old Fraser-McGurk had found out he would be joining Australia’s T20 World Cup squad later this year, with the pair realising different dreams, on the very same day.

“We had the same dream of playing cricket for Australia one day and then for it to turnaround like that and him getting told his debut on the same day I was in the World Cup squad, you can’t really script those sorts of things,” Fraser-McGurk said.

“It’s pretty rare for best mates to say we’ve been through something like that.

“We have a group chat and he goes “you’re probably going to have to book some flights” and then we all caught on pretty quickly.

“We had absolutely no idea, so it was quite nice.”

While Tuesday’s announcement was just 89 days after Parker signed on as a Category B rookie with the Pies, it was the justification of a life-changing decision for the defender.

Having played in a first-class fixture for Victoria against the touring Pakistan team in just December last year, Parker quickly turned his attention to football and was inside the AIA Vitality Centre just two months later.

“It was probably around the new year at the start of this year where I made the decision that I was going to try have a go at footy,” Parker said.

“I’m really proud of myself to make the decision and take the opportunity and then work hard to get myself to where I am to be ready to play AFL footy.

“It’s been a whirlwind but I’m grateful for the journey that I’ve been on.”

Things haven’t been easy for the 21-year-old since arriving at the Club either, with the young star having to condition his body back into contact sport mode having not played football since 2019.

For much of the summer, Parker would run laps either solo or alongside the rehab group, saying it was a lonely place at times as he found his feet.

“It was pretty gruelling, I was just running laps around the oval doing running by myself,” he said.

“They were pretty lonely days watching the other boys do match simulation and play on the weekends.

“There were a few boys in my corner like Nathan Murphy while he was still here, Dan McStay was able to get me through a lot of those sessions.

“I put in a lot of hard work during those two months to be able to play and then since playing I’ve definitely loved playing more than just training that’s for sure.”

And once he did start playing, Parker looked right at home.

Making his Club debut in the Pies’ VFL clash with Coburg in mid-April, the defender kicked a goal early as part of a 22-disposal maiden appearance in the black and white.

He has been consistently one of the side’s strongest performers since, helping him earn his chance on the biggest stage of all this Friday night.

“In the end it was just playing footy and it all just comes back so it was good to get back out there,” he said.

“You go back to when you were a kid and hunt the footy obviously within the system and structure of the team.

“Once you nail that (the team structure) you can just go and play footy and play on instinct so I think that’s what has held me in good stead.

“It’s going to be a good experience, it’s my first game so I don’t really know what to expect.

“I haven’t been around that long so I don’t really know the norms but I’ll just try embrace everything.”