At the end of the 2014 season, Luke McPharlin sat down with Fremantle senior coach Ross Lyon, sports science manager Jason Weber and club physiotherapist Dr Jeffrey Boyle to discuss his future in the AFL.

The club had just been knocked out of the premiership race by Port Adelaide. McPharlin could only watch the game because of a calf injury that held him back.

It was a similar story for the champion defender in 2012, when a hamstring strain in the final home and away game robbed him of a place in the club’s 2012 finals assault.

He’d only just made it back in time in 2013 to play in Freo’s Grand Final after missing rounds 16 through to 22.

Father-time, it seemed, was on track to remain undefeated.

“There were certainly a few moments last year when I really reflected on whether it was a good time to retire,” McPharlin admits.

A career in the balance was nothing new to McPharlin. He’d been at the crossroads before, all the way back at the beginning.

When he arrived at Freo in 2002 from Hawthorn, he came packaged with an osteitis pubis problem that threatened to derail his AFL dream before it even had a chance to get going.

It was Fremantle’s physio Boyle, who has been with the club since its first season and who was confident he could help McPharlin overcome the troublesome issue.

McPharlin took Boyle’s advice to choose a rest and management program over major surgery.

Boyle was again pivotal in influencing McPharlin’s decision at the end of 2014 to go on into a 16th season of AFL. He, along with Lyon and Weber, swayed McPharlin away from retirement.

“Everyone pointed to this notion that I could physically get myself going,” McPharlin says.

“Given that I had a really strong program and a bit more management focus this year, it could all work out.

“They were able to convince me of that, so I was more than happy to continue.”

Lyon has suggested the defender will be managed throughout 2015, with the prospect of sitting out some games a distinct possibility.

“You always want to play every game, but the past couple of years I’ve had to concede a little bit that my body is getting older, and perhaps a full AFL season might be out of the realms of possibility,” McPharlin says.

But with a gruelling pre-season campaign now behind him, McPharlin has great confidence in his ability to withstand another season and, more importantly, contribute to the team right up to the final siren of 2015.

“Everything is going very well, the leg strength has been excellent and all the running has been really good,” he says.

“I’m in a good place physically and mentally for the AFL season, but it can’t be about me, it needs to be about the football team and what’s best for the team.

"I’ll certainly put my hand up for every game, but there are a lot of factors and a lot of other people that will also contribute to that decision.”

McPharlin has plenty to keep himself occupied when kicking footballs and nullifying superstar AFL forwards is no longer in his job description.

He’s been married to wife Kalinz for eight years now and they have two daughters, five-year-old Willow and three-year-old Bronte.

And it’s taken almost 10 years, but he’s almost completed a pharmacy degree at Curtin University.

“It has been going for a long time,” McPharlin admits.

“I had a conversation at the end of last year with someone high up in pharmacy at Curtin University and they reminded me that I had been at Curtin for nearly a decade and hadn’t got anything to show for it yet.

“I imagine in the next couple of years I’ll be able to wrap up that degree.”

But he hasn’t given a lot of thought to what he’ll do with it.

“I hear hospital pharmacy can be quite interesting, and of course retail can be quite lucrative,” McPharlin says.

“I’ll look at those options when the time is right.”

He’s also a renowned musician.

“It’s always been a strong passion of mine, I’ve had the good fortune to play with a lot of different musicians over the years,” McPharlin says.

“Music is always going to be a big part of my life, albeit it’s been a bit diminished in recent years given I have a young family, and football and study take priority.

“I certainly see a time in the future where music will play a bigger role.”

McPharlin is also an active member of the Bahai community.

He’s followed its principles since he was 18.

“I made a decision when I was a young man that I was either going to step away from it entirely or I was going to commit to it,” he says.

“I made a decision to commit to it and everything that comes with that.”

Unity, the equality of the sexes and the elimination of the extremes between wealth and poverty on Earth are some of the principles of the Bahai religion.

McPharlin believes his Bahai faith has given him an important grounding in life.

“The principles of the Bahai faith strongly resonate with me,” he says.

“These are all themes that I’m very passionate about and thankfully through the Bahai community I’m able to play a role in hopefully alleviating these issues in the world, albeit on a small scale.

“It’s a very strong part of my life and my family’s life. I certainly hope my daughters will gain the strength that I’ve gained from it.”

While the 33-year-old knows the end of his football career is near, he’s not peeking too far over the horizon just yet.

“I can’t say I really feel any emotions at this point,” McPharlin says.

“I’m sure if I finally do make the decision at some point I could be overcome with emotion, but I’ve never been someone who’s been overly emotional about anything.

“I think that my football feels like a bit of a blur, the past 15 years. I haven’t really had much time to sit back and reflect on those years given it’s always been about the next moment and the next game.

“I’m sure there’ll come a time when I will reflect and look back.”

McPharlin admits that, whenever the end does arrive, he will leave a very proud man.

“I think it’s the notion that you put yourself in an environment where the standards are so incredibly high and you are challenged at such a high level, which you won’t find in many other environments,” he says.

“To be able to withstand that pressure and expectation and also the physical and mental demands of playing AFL football for such a long time is personally pleasing.

“I’ve been able to endure them for such a long period, and I feel that will hold me in good stead for life’s challenges to come.”

This article was first published in the April edition of Docker Magazine. Click here to view the full publication.