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Send your congratulations to Chris Judd, Marc Murphy and Brendan Fevola, and all the other 2008 award winners.
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MARC Murphy’s second placing in this year's John Nicholls Medal is a fitting reward for the Carlton young gun's breakout third season.

Murphy, 21, finished behind Chris Judd and ahead of Brendan Fevola and was delighted to be in such esteemed company.

"It was pretty handy playing in 10 winning games and to finish behind Chris with Fev on the other side – they're two super players to finish between – so I can't ask for more; it's been great," Murphy said at the best-and-fairest dinner at Crown Palladium on Thursday night.

"It's been great playing with Matthew Kreuzer as well. Having him come along with a few other young guys has made it a great year. Hopefully next year we can go a few games further and play in some finals."

It's certainly a marked departure from 2007 when the club's thin midfield stocks saw Murphy called upon to assume a lead role through the middle in just his second season at the elite level.

"There was a little bit less pressure [on me] after Juddy came across," Murphy said, adding the return of Nick Stevens to the line-up provided a further boost.

"It's always good to have a premier onballer come across and take the No.1 tag every week and having Stevo come back from his neck surgery last year as well. We've had two guys come in who are pretty much new recruits and taken the No.1 and No.2 taggers. That has let a few of the young boys in the midfield have a few opportunities."

Judd's addition to the Blues' onball brigade has had a two-fold effect on Murphy who not only received less opposition attention, but was also given the opportunity to learn from a pretty handy teacher.

"I'm still young – it's only my third year – so I'm learning every day. Going in there and having Juddy come from another club that has been pretty successful in the last three or four years has been pretty good from a [learning] point of view," he said.

"Having a Norm Smith Medallist and premiership captain come across, I don't think you could have asked for much more, and I don't think it's just the young guys that learned from him, I think the older guys learned a bit from him as well."

Murphy played all 22 games for the club this season and was the leading possession winner with 542.