How Lachlan Murphy went from selling Eddie Betts merchandise to being his small forward sidekick
Lachlan Murphy used to sell Eddie Betts merchandise at the Crows’ merchandise store. Now he’s his small forward sidekick.
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LACHLAN Murphy thought he had made it last year when he was selling Eddie Betts guernseys and badges and the Adelaide pocket rocket would pop into the club’s Crowmania store to say hello and ask how his weekend was.
Now, according to Betts, Murphy wants the Eddie Betts Pocket at Adelaide Oval renamed the Eddie Murphy Pocket.
“It's clever,’’ noted Betts as he gatecrashed Murphy’s interview with The Advertiser.
“But I’m not having any of it, I said no.’’
The banter — and friendship — between the pair is obvious.
Murphy has gone from selling Betts souvenirs and heat-pressing his number (18) onto the back of guernseys to being his small forward sidekick.
“I thought it was pretty cool last year when he would come up and talk to me, give me the occasional high five and ask how my weekend was and how I’d gone in the SANFL,’’ teenager Murphy, 19, said.
“Now I'm playing alongside him and he’s stirring me up, joking and pushing me around and I'm his small forward partner.
“It’s absolutely incredible and I still can’t believe it. Obviously we take our football seriously but we’ve not only become teammates but genuine mates.
“Whatever happens from here I can tell my grandkids that I got to play with the great Eddie Betts. It’s pretty cool.’’
Before then, Murphy — who now has his own player badge — wants to carve out a name for himself.
His football story is remarkable.
The 173cm small forward/midfielder made the last cut for Victorian under-12, 15 and 16 State teams but never made the final team.
And he missed out on being drafted when he was first eligible in 2016, despite winning TAC Cup side Northern Knights’ best and fairest award from just 10 games — when his best friend, Matthew Signorello, was picked by the Crows.
It was only thought his friendship with Signorello — “we were best mates from the time we met at school (Ivanhoe Grammar) in Year 7,’’ Murphy said — that he ended up at Adelaide.
CROWS national recruiting manager Hamish Ogilvie offered him a spot with the club’s SANFL development squad.
Still coming to terms with being overlooked at the draft and thinking his AFL dream might be over before it started, Murphy said he initially “froze’’ at the thought of moving states without an AFL guarantee.
“I’m very family-oriented (he has two younger brothers, Blake, 17, and Sebastian, 10) and questioned whether I wanted to move away from them, so it was tough,’’ he said.
“Obviously I was shattered at not being drafted and there was some interest from some VFL clubs so I wasn’t quite sure what to do. It was tough and I asked for a couple of weeks to think about it.
“But in the end I thought that you only get one crack at an opportunity like this and while the odds might be still stacked against me getting drafted it would be worth giving it a go.
“Even if it didn’t lead to anything I thought getting the exposure of playing in an AFL environment, even if it was with the Crows’ SANFL team, could be pretty cool, so I took up the offer.’’
With Signorello already locked in to living with a host family, Murphy spent his first two weeks in Adelaide at captain Taylor Walker’s house.
“That was absolutely incredible, going from someone who wasn’t drafted to moving in with ‘Tex’ (Walker) and watching how he goes about it with his professionalism,’’ Murphy said.
“And seeing how tough the training was I questioned whether I would be able to fit in.
“But once my first (SANFL) game came around I felt really comfortable and played every game.’’
Murphy, a 76kg left-footer who is quick and skilful and possesses a long kick, did not miss a beat with the SANFL Crows last year and won the Dean Bailey Award as the team’s best and most dedicated development player.
Surprisingly,` he was used as a small defender, playing only the final game of the season against South Adelaide at Noarlunga in attack, along with the AFL practice match in the finals against GWS at Football Park.
Despite impressing, Murphy was told by Ogilvie that he hadn’t done enough to be drafted by the Crows but would be offered a second gig as a SANFL development player.
“So I was tossing that up or returning to Melbourne to play VFL or local footy,’’ Murphy said.
Before he had made a decision, Crows speedster and fellow small forward Charlie Cameron was traded to Brisbane — a move he had sought for family reasons.
The following day Ogilvie called Murphy.
“Hamish said ‘look, there’s a five per cent chance that we’ll take you now (in the rookie draft),’’ Murphy recalled.
“But he said I had to get really fit, that there were three or four targets that I had to reach and that if I did I could come back and train with the (Crows) first-to-fourth year players in the pre-season.
“The rest is history, I reached the targets and was lucky enough to get picked as a rookie.’’
Murphy was given seven weeks to lose 5kg and shave 20 seconds off his 2km time trial, getting below the club-required seven minutes.
So he called on good mate and fitness expert Billy Murphy, who plays VFL for the Box Hill Hawks, for help.
He moved to Melbourne to train with his namesake for seven weeks and after boot camp-style training that included running, boxing, swimming and football drills, Murphy reached the targets and returned to Adelaide for training.
He was then picked with the Crows last live pick, No. 38, at the rookie draft, made his AFL debut against Essendon in round one and has played seven games and kicked eight goals, including a game-defining three in the crucial win against Geelong last week.
“When (coach) Don Pyke called me to congratulate me on being drafted he said I had been picked as a small forward, which was funny given I’d only played the one SANFL game as a forward all season,’’ said Murphy,who now lives with Crows teammates Myles Poholke and Elliott Himmelberg.
“But he must have seen something in me that he liked to play that role.’’
Among Murphy’s goals against the Cats was the sealer in the last quarter after Chris Scott’s side had stormed back from a 30-point deficit to draw to within eight.
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“That was pretty special,’’ said Murphy, who was born in Newcastle, NSW, but grew up in Melbourne where he supported Collingwood.
“It was quite surreal because it wasn’t long ago that I was just watching these guys go about their business and now I’m kicking an important goal and helping the team win.
“I’m thinking, ‘wow, is this actually happening, it’s not a dream any more’.’’
A breath of fresh air to talk to because of his drive and bubbly personality, Murphy bases his game on forward 50 pressure, saying “it’s my main role in the side’’.
But he loves celebrating a goal and makes no apologies for his animation.
“It’s because as a kid the thing I loved most about football — and still do — is watching a player kicking a goal on the run and the crowd all going up as one,’’ said Murphy.
“I used to dream about that scenario so for me to actually be that player in the last quarter against Geelong was amazing.
“Sometimes I can’t control my body (celebrations), to be honest, and probably celebrate a bit too much but I think it’s just because of my love for the game and knowing how hard it was for me to get to this position and that I don’t want to waste a second or any opportunity.
“After I kicked that last goal against Geelong my arm went up and the crowd went wild and I just thought, ‘wow, how good is this’.
“It’s what I had dreamt of, unbelievable, and something I will never forget.’’
Just like his unexpected rise to the top.
andrew.capel@news.com.au
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