Murphy deal imminent
Carlton's Marc Murphy has revealed his contract negotiations are back on with the Blues
CARLTON'S Marc Murphy has revealed his contract discussions with Blues officials are back on and he is expected to sign a new deal in the coming weeks.
Murphy, 23, told On The Couch on Monday night that his management had delayed talks with Carlton officials until he started to show some good form, and now that had happened he expected to sign a new contract soon.
A new deal - which is expected to be longer than one year - will put Murphy out of reach from Greater Western Sydney.
"For the first seven or eight rounds I wanted to focus on playing good footy for the club. And then my management talked to the club after that period. Talks are back on now and I look forward to getting it signed soon," Murphy said.
He said the reason for the delay was not an indication that he had an issue with the club.
"[There's] nothing wrong at all. I left that to my manager [Paul Connors]. I said during the break I was pretty keen to sign with the Blues and he's going through that with the club at the moment. That will sort itself out fairly soon."
Connors also confirmed that talks were back on.
Connors told sportsnewsfirst.com.au that he started negotiations with Carlton football operations general manager Steven Icke last week.
"Marc had wanted to get his season well and truly under way and at least wait until after their bye before negotiations started," Connors said.
"I have had that initial discussion with Carlton and I expect things should continue from here. It's fair to say that discussions so far have been fruitful.
"Marc would like to stay at Carlton. There's some exciting things going on down there, that's for sure and he is a big part of it all.
"But there's still a fair bit of water to pass under the bridge yet. It's still relatively early into our talks so there’s still work to do between us."
Connors said Murphy was hoping for a long-term contract extension.
"I don't think one-year contracts will be the norm. It is easy enough to build conditions into an agreement to protect a player's interests," Connors said.
