Blues skipper Marc Murphy has implored his young teammates to "live in the moment", a message of wisdom that still rings true from previous club captain Chris Judd.
With a young Blues side containing to grow under the tutelage of coach Brendon Bolton, Murphy said it was important for his young teammates to embrace the victories.
“You learn to live in the moment more and live in the present as opposed to looking too far forward,” Murphy said.
“That was always something Juddy spoke to me about when he finished up playing. If you’re always looking forward or straight to the next challenge, sometimes you forget to actually enjoy those little wins at the time.
“You know not to get too happy with yourselves, but it can be a pretty tough place to be at when you’re not performing well so when you are playing some pretty good footy, it’s nice to enjoy it.”
Marc Murphy celebrates a goal with youngsters Samo Petrevski-Seton, Jarrod Pickett and Jacob Weitering. (Photo: AFL Media)
Despite missing the second half of last season with an ankle injury, the skipper continued to contribute and worked closely with the Club’s young brigade off the field. After a near best-on-ground performance on Sunday, Murphy said the latest win was extra special sharing it with the Blues’ young crop.
“I’m really enjoying my footy at the moment. I felt I had a good pre-season and started the season well in terms of my own performance. But just being out there and playing footy again with my body feeling good – and now enjoying that win with the younger guys - that was pretty special too,” he told RSN on Thursday morning.
“For someone like me and ‘Simmo’, it’s been pretty tough over the last few years to get some good wins. So when they do come along I suppose the fans can see what it does mean to us.
“For the young boys to experience their first win in AFL football – it’ll be something they remember for the rest of their lives so it was equally as good to share it with those younger fellas.”
Despite the win, Murphy said he was aware his young side would continue to experience highs and lows this season, and highlighted the list changes the Club has gone through over the past two years since coach Brendon Bolton’s arrival at the Blues.
“When you remove 28 blokes from a list of about 45, things aren’t necessarily going to click straight away. We know we’ve got some really good young kids at our footy club, as well as some experienced guys in from other clubs,” he said.
“You never know how quick it can turn, but the enjoyment you get from winning games of football and seeing the young guys around you grow is something that now, being an older bloke at the club, you get excited about the future.
“Especially on the weekend, in playing conditions like that, seeing Sam Petrevski-Seton being as clean (with the ball) as he was, you just know he’s going to be a really good footballer for our footy club.”
Facing an in-form Gold Coast Suns, who comprehensively beat Hawthorn by 86 points on Sunday, Murphy said the focus quickly switched to their next assignment.
“You do enjoy the win for a day or so – I think it’s important to do that, but we’re now focused on Gold Coast and our game on Saturday night. We did our review on Tuesday morning and then finished off our afternoon previewing the game against the Suns,” he said.
“Gold Coast have a lot of talent at that footy club and can play really good footy. We need to be at our best to get close to beating them.
“I’m not sure if they’ll tag or if we will, but no doubt I’ll go through the middle at some point and hopefully go head-to-head (with Ablett). Gary is a player I’ve always looked up to, and in my opinion, he’s one of the best players of all time so it’ll be a good test for us.”
