Hamish McLachlan: What you didn’t know about Western Bulldogs captain Bob Murphy

[Hotdog60]

I’VE always admired Bob Murphy as a player. Slight, but fierce. He may also just be the most interesting footballer I’ve ever met.

He talks about his football mortality, trains, the Gallagher brothers, tattoos, Bruce Springsteen, bull elephants, life’s rules, black boots, pre-game shakes and the dream of a Bulldogs flag.

HM: Your father was a priest and your mother was a nun, amazing you’re even here.

BM: Agreed — but thankfully true love was involved — son of a preacher man — as Dusty Springfield sang. Why am I here though? That’s another question.

HM: In an earthly sense or a football sense?

BM: I probably don’t think about why in an earthly sense too much at the moment, more about my football purpose. I’ve got some good years left in life, I hope, but my football life is different. How long have I got left here, and what can I do? I am trying to cram as much in as I can until the inevitable tap on the shoulder comes.

HM: There is a risk that you finish your career, and you don’t achieve what you set out to do.

BM: I think I’ve faced that in some ways, but also you save a little bit of room for it, if it doesn’t work out. I’ve got this theory — the premiership is what it’s all about — but it also can’t be what it’s all about. I think if that’s the whole thing, if you tell me that Chris Grant’s career doesn’t mean anything, and John Schultz’s career doesn’t mean anything, you’re not the kind of person I would like to sit next to at a dinner party. There is an element of a hole inside you, and if a flag never happens that hole will be there forever, but that’s just part of growing up. If you get everything you want you’ll probably turn into a p---- anyway.


HM: Is there a difference between a 250-game player and a 250-game premiership player?

BM: There’s a chasm. Premiership players are a bit like bull elephants — the ones who get prime position at the waterhole. All the animals will be drinking, and when the bull elephant comes over the hill, all the other elephants, without any communication, just move to the side to allow the bull elephant to drink. And that’s happening at bars and pubs all around Australia. Steve Kernahan and Jonathan Brown, they are the bull elephants of the bull elephants. They walk up to the bar and the rest of us just take a step to the left.


HM: When you think about a Western Bulldogs flag, what do you think of?

BM: I think of the Boston Red Sox breaking their drought. When I watched the story on ESPN 30 for 30, I thought about the Bulldogs in ’54. I daydream and although it’s painful, it’s vivid. I can see the faces that mean so much in the crowd, the Auskick kid presenting the medallion to me, the rooms after the match, the walk to the Footscray town hall. It’s probably much more dramatic in my imagination. I hear that in 1954, three players couldn’t get into the hall because there were so many people, so they stayed on the couch and drank bottles of beer. That’s all in the dream.

MORE HERE

[ratsmac]

Your not as interesting as you think you are! I love it

[AndrewP6]

Great read this one.

[LostDoggy]

Loved it, thanks for sharing.

Macrae's boot's story is brilliant.

And his tat does look a little like Roos hey

Murphy.jpg