Carlton captain Marc Murphy ready to sit down to make call on his future

CARLTON skipper Marc Murphy will sit down with his management this week to work through his future. But Jon Ralph writes the weekend showed the Blues must keep him.

Marc Murphy will decide his future in coming weeks. Pic: AAP

MARC Murphy got away to Byron Bay over the bye, contemplating his future and spending time with his family.

Brendon Bolton might wish he had stayed there for an extra weekend.

Carlton’s show of faith in Bolton — extending his contract and backing their man — means Saturday’s horror show is just another tough week.

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So it should be a given Carlton is realistic about how far back it is coming from.

The time to judge Bolton isn’t when an already thin list has a dozen players on its injury list, including the top two in last year’s best and fairest (Murphy and Sam Docherty).

Especially with Levi Casboult first up from a serious rib injury, Bryce Gibbs in Adelaide and Matthew Kennedy and Jarrod Garlett only back in the VFL at the weekend.

Carlton skipper Marc Murphy and Sam Doherty at half time against Freo. Pic: Michael Klein

But what Saturday’s loss showed is that Carlton desperately needs to retain Murphy, despite what his harshest critics say about the 30-year-old.

What must he have thought, witnessing the first-half train wreck?

He will sit down with his management this week to work through his future, with the prospect of leaving the Blues a serious consideration.

His critics will tell you he is too outside, he misses too many games with injury, he doesn’t hurt teams enough.

Yet as recently as last year he was so good he won the best-and-fairest ahead of Docherty, the Blues first All Australian since 2011.

In his time at Carlton Murphy has two John Nicholls trophies and four other top-three finishes.

Carlton coach Brendon Bolton watches the Blues’ VFL side on Sunday. Pic: Michael Klein

Bolton during Saturday’s horror loss. Pic: Michael Klein

The Blues need experience, class, pace and leadership and Murphy has all of them.

Carlton’s older players and leaders are already seen to be a little quiet, a little too insular, without losing Murphy and Gibbs in successive years.

As he sat there watching Saturday’s game, it would have been impossible for him to think he might play finals again if he stayed.

He said pre-match he still wasn’t sure which way he was leaning.

“I had a good week last week in the bye period, I went up to Byron Bay and got away for a bit and did some thinking,’’ he told Triple M.

“I haven’t caught up with my manager, we have pencilled it in for early next week. We will make a call on that fairly soon.

“Last week was a good chance to get away with my family and have a chat about a few things and think about what is important to us.”

Carlton is desperate to keep him, knowing it would get very little in free agency compensation if he departed.

When Jarrad Waite left at 31 for North Melbourne on a two-year deal, the Blues got literally nothing as compensation.

Murphy would sign a two-year deal at Carlton to stay but would certainly take a pay cut to go to a Victorian contender, which is the only type of club he would consider.

If he accepted a two-year deal on a total of $900,000 as a 31-year-old, surely the AFL would hand the Blues a third-round pick at best?

Is there a rival out there — Melbourne, Geelong, Hawthorn, who would offer him three years?

Because if that was the case, it enters win-win territory and the kind of second-round pick the Blues could use in a great draft?

He might not be as tough as Patrick Cripps and this year is the second in three seasons decimated by injury.

But to lose Murphy to a Victorian rival would be an unmitigated disaster for the Blues given what they would get in return.

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