Luke Parker enters his eleventh AFL season in 2021 and after a stellar 2020 campaign is ready to set the tone once again, named co-captain for the third consecutive year alongside Josh Kennedy and Dane Rampe.

Parker played game number 200 in season 2020, was runner-up in the 2020 Club Champion, topped the Swans votes and finished equal 5th in the Brownlow Medal count and won the Brett Kirk medal in the side’s memorable Sydney Derby win.

The 28-year old has plenty of youthful energy and footy still ahead of him and is now tasked with leading from the front for the next generation of Swans.

Players such as Ollie Florent, James Rowbottom and Dylan Stephens all played minutes in the Swans midfield last year with the absence of George Hewett and Josh Kennedy and Parker is enjoying assisting in the development of the talented youngsters.

“Dyl, Ollie and James, those guys are the ones who are taking their games to another level, Parker told SportsDay WA on Thursday evening.

“They will hopefully be the ones that will drive us to get back to being a powerhouse.

“They are the ones we need to step up and they are looking really confident and with another preseason under their belt, a bit more experience is always nice.

“The last year or two we have shown some really good signs and we have a lot of confidence that this year we can hopefully get back to our best.”

Once upon a time it was a young Luke Parker looking up to the likes of mentors Kieran Jack and Jude Bolton but Parker now finds himself as the role model for a new generation of Bloods.

20-year old James Rowbottom, who had a breakout year in season 2020 and played plenty of midfield minutes with Parker credits plenty of his learnings to working closely with Parker and and fellow co-Captain Josh Kennedy.

“They have been huge for me, especially teaching me the bodywork.  I just try learn as much as possible off them,” Rowbottom said.

Meanwhile Dylan Stephens, who debuted and played eight games in 2020 echoed Rowbottom's sentiments and said he ‘acts like a sponge’ around Parker and Kennedy.

“Joey and Parks are probably the two biggest (influences) for me,” Stephens said.

“Not necessarily position wise as I am more of an outside mid and they are inside bulls but just their mindset in terms of how they go about it and train,” Stephens said.