So given he moved here, wasn’t playing for any other club, who did he train with?Firstly sMurph never trained with the AFL squad, the nearest he got was selling scarves in the Crows Shop. He barely qualified for the draft in 2016 (born 4/12/98) and the easy option was to go back to the TAC as an overager. He moved state to play in the SANFL and outperformed all our 2016 draftees.
He was the last selection in the 2017 rookie draft and easily the best Kid picked up in the 2017 rookie draft since half those selected were recycled AFL players and guys in their twenties.
When he was interviewed post draft he said that Don Pyke phoned him after Charlie Cameron decided to take the money and run and Don wanted to draft him as a pressure forward. His answer was he would .be happy to play anywhere Don liked.
sMurph is a ripper Kid and it pisses me off that many Crows BigFooty posters (not directed at you EC) fail to recognise what he has already achieved. It is unlikely that any other teenager picked up in the 2017 rookie draft will play more AFL games than sMurph.
I am also willing to bet that Jordan Butts will be the pick of the Kids from the 2018 rookie draft.
My overall point was that most clubs are using the Rookie Draft to pick up recycled players or more mature players from state leagues. Whilst we haven’t picked up any teenagers in this year’s Rookie Draft, we have arguably the best record in recent years in drafting Kids in the Rookie Draft.
He wasn’t a stranger to our program like a normal rookie is.
Don’t get me wrong, kudos to what he had the balls to do and the effort he puts in. I just don’t seem him as a small forward of high quality and we should be expecting better from our small forwards.
I would hope that we try him down back at some stage otherwise he may not have a long career.