Fremantle defender Luke McPharlin has left the door ajar to play on next year, but he may need some help telling his wife.
McPharlin initially planned for 2014 to be his final season, and retirement appeared to be a mere formality after he endured a year blighted by quad, knee, and calf issues.
But after missing Fremantle's straight-sets finals exit through injury, McPharlin told coach Ross Lyon he was keen to play on in 2015 if he was required.
Fremantle's failure to lure James Frawley their way strengthened McPharlin's cause, with the 33-year-old given a new one-year deal.
McPharlin enjoyed a strong pre-season campaign over the summer, and he shapes as a key player in Fremantle's flag bid.
But he revealed his wife isn't all that thrilled about his decision to play on.
"Certainly my wife was very disappointed when I flipped and changed my decision last year," McPharlin said on Tuesday.
"We sort of tried to have a chat at the start of the year, but she doesn't believe me anymore because she thought I'd retire three or four years ago.
"Probably this time last year I was thinking about retiring, but I'm not saying anything at this point.
"So we're just going to leave it and see what happens."
With key defenders Zac Dawson (groin) and Alex Silvagni (hamstring) ruled out for the early part of the season, the retention of McPharlin has proven to be an inspired decision.
The 238-game veteran is set to match up on Port Adelaide spearhead Jay Schulz in Sunday's clash at Domain Stadium.
McPharlin revealed he had done more strength work on his calves and other parts of his legs during the pre-season in a bid to avoid a repeat of the soft tissue problems.
Dockers trio Hayden Ballantyne (calf), Tendai Mzungu (hamstring), and Matt Taberner (Achilles soreness) face fitness tests this week, while tagger Ryan Crowley is serving a provisional suspension after failing a doping test last year.
Power duo Angus Monfries and Paddy Ryder are free to play in the season opener after the AFL's Anti-Doping Tribunal cleared 34 past and present Essendon players of taking a banned substance.
The news comes in the wake of Collingwood duo Lachie Keeffe and Josh Thomas testing positive to the banned steroid clenbuterol.
"Ultimately there's a situation in elite sport at the moment where a drug culture, whatever you want to call it, seems to be rife," McPharlin said.
"I think it's mostly around the education that we need to continue to push forward with, and I know certainly at our club we have very strong protocols in place.
"But at the end of the day you're not always going to get 100 per cent compliance and we've seen that across the AFL in the last few years."
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