ON THE night when he was crowned Carlton’s Best Young Player for the 2021 season, Liam Stocker hailed the influence of the outgoing Marc Murphy.
Alongside Eddie Betts, Murphy was honoured during the John Nicholls Medal — a decade after winning his first of two Carlton best-and-fairest awards.
However, Stocker found it was fitting to mention Murphy’s impact in what was a breakthrough season for the 21 year old.
Conceding that Murphy may not have realised what he was about to say, Stocker revealed that the former captain had passed on valuable lessons to the defender during the veteran’s final year of football.
“I haven’t said it to his face yet because I was crying after his last game, but ‘Murph’ took me under his wing this year,” Stocker said.
“Some of the stuff he taught me - not necessarily football-related, but life-related - I found super important.
“I clung to every word he told. I don’t know if he’s on [the Zoom call], but he was brilliant for me this year.”
Stocker also credited the influence of key defensive double act Liam Jones and Jacob Weitering, as well as the contribution of Luke Power.
To listen to Stocker’s full chat with Dylan Buckley, including his work with beyondblue and returning from the football wilderness, you can watch in the player above.
