World Footy News

The Sydney Swans' sole remaining Irish recruit has ended speculation regarding his future by signing a new contract to see him remain at the Swans. This is despite recently claiming that he was going to return to Ireland had he not made his senior debut by this seasons end. A series of injuries have hampered his development this year and thus his appearances have been restricted to the Swans reserve side.

Writing in the Irish Echo, Murphy has said that he is delighted at his decision to remain in Australia. “I know I’ve said before that if I hadn’t made a senior appearance by the end of the season that I would just wrap things up and go home; but I’ve changed my mind and I’m now fully committed to a future at the Sydney Swans, whether I’ve made that breakthrough by season’s end or not. Basically, I’ve been offered a new contract, and I’ve decided to take it.”

Originally drafted in 2007 from his home county of Carlow, Murphy would have expected to make his full Swans debut this year as they have been rebuilding their squad in what will see them miss out on a place in the finals for the first time in Paul Roos’ tenure as head coach.

At the start of this year Murphy suffered a severe shoulder injury that required surgery and kept him out for several weeks and upon his return he has had numerous smaller niggles, the latest some damage to the arch of his foot.

No doubt, Murphy has realised that next year will be a further rebuilding season for the Swans. Legends of the club, Michael O’Loughlin and Leo Barry have announced that they are retiring at the end of this season while Barry Hall has left the club; he hopes to play AFL elsewhere next year.

Murphy will put this year’s disappointments behind him and hope to remain fit and push for a senior debut next year. He clearly still has the passion to become a success in his adopted sport, he says “After a lot of thought, I realized that I wasn’t willing to walk away just yet, and that after coming so close to making it I couldn’t turn my back on the opportunity. I decided that there was no way I was going to home a failure and that I would go back in and tell the club that I was not going to let this opportunity slip away.”

We will wait expectantly to see if he can produce and deliver on his undoubted potential.