Amongst the reaction,Essendon players wereslammed by club great Matthew Lloyd for allowing themselves to be “walked over” by the Swans,while Parker’s actions were labelled “juvenile” and “arrogant”by veteran journalist Caroline Wilson.
“I thought the reaction was probably a little bit of a storm in a teacup,” said Parker,who was more interested in focusing on this Saturday night’s blockbuster against top team Melbourne at the MCG.
“It was probably dragged out for longer than I thought it would. I didn’t really think it was anything different to what goes on in a game probably 100 times that people don’t see.
“Obviously,this one was caught on camera and you could say a little bit more of the gesture. But I think that’s part of the game and just part of being competitive and wanting to win.
“I didn’t really think it was the big deal at the time that it was made out to be and at the end of the day,I think it was probably a little bit of a slow news week.
“It tended to be the one thing that kind of got thrown around and everyone continued to have an opinion on it but look for me,I moved on from it.”