MARC Murphy will chest the banner at Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon sporting a black armband for the late Carlton administrator Keith McKenzie and the dual premiership player Ken Hands - the latter whose 99 games as captain he surpasses in this the club’s first home match of the 2018 season.

“I got to meet Ken Hands socially a few times,” Murphy recalled following a training session this week. “I looked up his history and what he did for the football club, and I think it’s really important that we players learn a little bit about those like him who came before because we’re all going to be past players someday.”

For ‘Murph’, game No.100 as captain not only takes him past the last man standing of the infamous 'Bloodbath', but also elevates him to an exalted corps of Carlton leaders who similarly achieved that feat – in chronological order John Nicholls, Stephen Kernahan, Craig Bradley and Chris Judd – and all are premiership players.

Little wonder the little bloke in the No.3 is envious.

“I’m not sure how much longer I’ll captain the club, but success has obviously eluded me in those games,” Murphy said. “It’s been a tough period in our club’s history but we’re certainly coming out of it on the other side now.”

Along the way, Murphy, who’s only led his team into one final (“against Richmond when we snuck into the eight”) has had his resolve truly tested. As he readily admitted: “There have been times where your character and leadership are challenged."

“But I stuck true to listening to the important people around me rather than the external people, and I got very good support from people like Johnny Barker, ‘Bolts’ (Brendon Bolton) and Anthony Klarica, and beforehand Brett Ratten. Then there were close friends and family, and my father, who had a pretty tough time of it as captain of Fitzroy.”


Marc Murphy will lead the Blues for the 100th time as captain on Saturday. (Photo: AFL Media)

Murphy was always mindful that in accepting the Carlton captaincy after C. Judd, he’d be faced with a myriad of challenges the likes of which he’d not before experienced – which was fine for one of football’s truly brave on-field competitors.

“The important thing in getting the role of captain is that once you’re named you don’t suddenly need to change the way you’ve been going about things,” Murphy said.

“You certainly must have an incredibly strong awareness of what you’re actually doing so that guys can feed off that, because it’s not about what you say but how you do it. You have to encourage buy-in from others around you and invest in people outside of training and playing, and that’s what I’ve tried to work on so that when we’re out there together on the football field they certainly think you care about them and they want to play for you.

“That’s something ‘Bolts’ has been really strong on since he’s come to the club.”

Of course there have been down times, but if the past five seasons have taught Murphy anything about the captaincy it’s quite simply being true to himself, and it is here that he offered a fascinating insight into the responsibilities of leadership.

“Part of what I’ve learned along the way is that in times when I’ve played poorly I’ve worried about everything else around me rather than what I’ve been doing myself,” Murphy said.

“There were times where I hadn’t played well because I was probably too worried about trying to do everything right for the team rather than getting my own backyard right. First and foremost as a leader you need to perform well and play the right way because by playing well, you’re leading.”

It is here that Murphy has truly gained from the support of his lieutenants – Patrick Cripps and Sam Docherty as joint vice-captains, together with Ed Curnow, Matthew Kreuzer, Lachie Plowman Alex Silvagni and Kade Simpson who form the collective in Carlton’s leadership group.


Skipper Marc Murphy is grateful for the support from his fellow leadership group members. (Photo: AFL Media)

“Everybody’s probably heard it from ‘Bolts’ (Brendon Bolton), but it’s leadership density. That’s why the good sides are good sides because they’ve got more blokes out there directing and communicating, and not leaving it to one, two or three, or even four or five blokes,” Murphy said.

“The times that we’ve really battled leadership-wise has been when it’s been left to too few and the too few to which it’s been left have been bogged down. (But) the guys are communicating at a really high level and interacting with the other blokes, because it’s a tough game to be switched on the whole time – and when that happens it’s pretty easy to join in and just worry about playing football.”

Having completed the most recent pre-season back-to-back and without physical setback, the 30 year-old Murphy finds himself in ripping physical shape - and on the home front he also finds himself quite literally in a good place (Mens Sana in Corpore Sano). As husband to Jessie and now father to Max, ‘Murph’ is relishing this life-changing phase of his earthly existence.

“I’m a few weeks into fatherhood and I haven’t conquered it yet,” he dryly suggested. “But I think it’s put everything in perspective for Jessie and me, because the safe arrival of Max was the best day of our lives.

“It’s been good to share this experience with Eddie Curnow, whose wife Emily has had a little boy, and Jarrod (Garlett) who is a new father as well. We’re now getting a few smiles from Max, and to see him and Jessie in the rooms for the first time (following the Richmond match) was pretty special. I have some nice photos of that.”


Marc and Jessie Murphy with son Max post-game last week. (Photo: Supplied)

Now in the final year of his existing contract, Murphy is comfortable in the knowledge that talks involving his manager and Stephen Silvagni are progressing nicely – and as the 237-gamer dryly suggested, “hopefully ‘SOS’ will give me a five or six-year deal”.

Asked about contract talks and where they were at, Murphy was quick to allay concerns. As he said: “I’m not too stressed about it. I’m sure everything will be worked out in due course and I’m happy where the club is headed and where we’re going”.

“At Carlton there’s a belief in the game plan and what we’re doing,” Murphy said. “We want to create a winning culture. It’s what drives guys like me, ‘Simmo’ (Kade Simpson) and ‘Kreuz’ (Matthew Kreuzer) who have been around here a long time.

“And the young guys here now are pretty confident we’re they’re at. They’re not arrogant, but they don’t want to just play AFL footy – they want to perform and win games of League footy, and that’s good.”

Murphy acknowledges that there is a personal pride in leading his football club to 100 games as captain, but he’s also first to admit that there’s bigger fish to fry.

Does he believe the bar has been raised at Bluesville?

“Well that’s what happened last year at Richmond,” came the reply.

“The most important thing for everyone at this place at the moment is that if we turn in another strong brand of football and we get a win then we can get the ball rolling.”

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