Carlton captain Marc Murphy has finally stepped out of Chris Judd’s shadow

MARC Murphy had a tough act to follow as Carlton skipper - dual Brownlow medallist Chris Judd. Now in his fifth season as leader, he is growing with the role.

Marc Murphy had 31 disposals against Melbourne in Round 2. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

TAKING over the captaincy from a superstar like Chris Judd was never going to be easy.

Marc Murphy was 25 years old and believed he was ready when Carlton appointed him in 2013 but, as it panned out, the going was a little tougher than expected.

Judd was still at Carlton and seen as the heart and soul of the side and Murphy — hampered by niggling injuries — failed to reach the heights of previous seasons as he battled weekly tags.

Questions were soon asked about a player some regarded as “hobbled by self-doubt”.

Four years on, dual Brownlow medallist Judd is has retired and Murphy, 29, has well and truly stepped out of his shadow.

In his 12th season, he is confident in himself and his leadership and is dragging a young and developing Carlton side along with him.

“I’d always been a captain at junior levels but it’s obviously completely different to being captain of a senior footy club and especially when you’re in the AFL there are a lot of responsibilities that come with it,” Murphy said.

“Taking over from one of the greats of the game was always going to be a hard role to fill but he was always really supportive, Juddy, when he was still at the club and I was captain.

“But now that it’s a whole new feeling around the place I feel like I’ve got a lot of support from Bolts (coach Brendon Bolton) and I think my footy is starting to show that having that support has been really good for me. I’ve grown a lot in the last 18 months under him.”

Marc Murphy has started to grow in his role as Carlton captain. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

If his first year as captain was tough, last year was even tougher for Murphy.

Shoulder injuries limited his summer training before an ankle ended his campaign at Round 10.

“It can be a pretty frustrating place and a lonely place sometimes when you’re playing professional sport and things aren’t going your way,” Murphy said.

“I think certainly last year was frustrating body-wise but my mind was pretty excited about the whole new regime with Bolts coming in and basically turning the whole place upside down in turning over our list and getting a lot of new guys into the footy club.”

Coming off a full pre-season for the first time in years, his biggest injury complaint some minor grass burns on his knees, Murphy has started this season at his damaging best.

He had 35 disposals against Richmond in Round 1 and chalked up 31 touches and a goal against Melbourne last weekend.

Married in December to Instagram queen and fashion and travel blogger Jessie Haberman, life on the home front is going well, too. They are building a house and building a family is likely to follow.

Murphy is also preparing to enter the property market in a different capacity later this month when he starts working one day a week as a sales consultant with a real estate agent.

“At the moment I’m in a really good space,” he said.

“I’m really enjoying what I’m doing, really enjoying leading the footy club and playing footy again.”

Chris Judd and Marc Murphy.

Bolton is the fourth coach Murphy has played under since his debut in 2006 and, he said, the best.

Two premiership coaches at other clubs — Denis Pagan and Mick Malthouse — as well as Carlton Hall of Famer Brett Ratten came before him, but Murphy cannot speak more glowingly of “Bolts”.

“In my eyes he’s certainly the best,” the skipper said.

“Whether or not sometimes as a young kid coming in you don’t analyse the game as much, I don’t know.

“But I think the program Bolts has brought will bring along a lot of young kids really quickly and it certainly made me, as a senior player, think differently as well. Some things I never really thought of about football, he’s opened my eyes up to. He’s been brilliant.”

Told his win-loss record in 216 games was 92 wins, 123 losses and one draw, Murphy briefly paused as a look of emptiness came over his face.

He knows he has not been blessed by the success he craves — hhe has played in six finals but never progressed past a semi-final — but the blunt statistic appeared to pack a punch.

The No. 1 draft pick in 2005, Murphy arrived after Carlton had finished 16th, 11th, 15th and 16th in the previous four years.

Murphy with wife Jessie Haberman. Picture: Nicki Connolly

With so many high draft picks during the period, he always expected success to come but the reality has been very different.

“Going into it when you’re picked up at No.1, you’re obviously going to a club that’s down the bottom so you probably understand that the wins aren’t going to come straight away,” Murphy said.

“At that point in time I was pretty focused on just playing AFL football and once I cemented my spot after a few games it was about winning games of footy. Obviously I expected, hopefully, by 12 years in I would have gone close to being there for that last day in September but the way it happens they’re pretty tough to come by.”

Murphy turns 30 in July, his twilight years here and now.

He is contracted until the end of next year but said he hoped to continue after that — when Jacob Weitering, Jack Silvagni, Charlie Curnow, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Harry McKay and others have developed into “stars of the competition”.

Because of that emerging talent, Murphy does not consider his window for ultimate success closed just yet.

“Training with those guys — and there’s a lot of guys you haven’t mentioned there that Carlton fans will see over the next 12 months and beyond — it certainly gives me good energy and makes me really hopeful about the next four or five years of my career,” Murphy said.

“I aim to be a Carlton player for hopefully 15 or 16 years and if I can lift up a bit of silverware at the end that would be all right, wouldn’t it?”