Rising young Sydney midfielder Luke Parker seems to have an unquenchable thirst for improvement, as his stocks continue to soar.

Parker’s seemingly inevitable ascension into the AFL elite got another push last week when he was named in the initial 40-man All-Australian squad.

He underlined his claims to make the final squad with another industrious and influential performance in Sydney’s qualifying final win over Fremantle.

Parker thrived in a tough attritional battle, tallying a match high 32 touches, 19 of them contested, and laid six tackles.

“I just tried to be hard inside, win the footy and play to my strengths,” Parker told AAP.

“I just tried to play my normal game.”

A normal game for Parker is averaging 25 disposals and six tackles.

At the age of 21, Parker has already played 80 games, been part of a premiership winning team and logged nine finals appearances.

He has logged career best single game figures this year in every major statistical category.

“He’s led the way and he’s been unbelievable for a young player,” fellow Sydney midfielder Dan Hannebery said of Parker on Swans TV.

“Every week he’s been putting his best foot forward and gives great effort.

“He’s a really hard inside mid and he’s probably been one of our best players this year.”

Given his propensity for producing big plays that inspire his teammates, Parker stands out as an obvious future leader of the Swans.

Parker’s success should gnaw away and stick in the craw of all the other clubs who passed up the opportunity to take him in the 2010 draft.

Sydney swooped on him with the 40th pick, potentially making him one of the Swans’ best ever draft day steals, along with Adam Goodes, (43rd, 1997), Ryan O’Keefe (56th, 1999) and Nick Malceski (64th, 2002).

Even normally cagey Sydney coach John Longmire is an unabashed Parker fan.

“He’s been tremendous, his consistency has been amazing for a younger player,” Longmire said.

“He’s not that old, but you just know what you’re going to get from him every time, which is extreme effort, his ability to tackle and put pressure on.

“He’s just a competitor and you can see when the game gets a bit tight, he’s normally the one that lays the big tackle and wins the hard ball.

“He’s one that you can always turn to, to make sure that he applies enormous pressure and leads the way, even though he is only a young kid.”