WHY MARC MURPHY SHOULD LEAVE
MARC Murphy does not owe Carlton anything.
When Murphy sits down with his manager this week and plots his future, my advice would be to test the open market and consider leaving.
This is his 13th season at the club. He has given 240 games of service, he has captained the club, twice won the best-and-fairest and made the All-Australian team. He has given everything he can to this club.
In return, as he enters the twilight of his career, the Blues have repaid him with years of mediocrity, low finishes, two wooden spoons (and probably a third this year), wholesale list overhauls, coaching changes and a constant rebuild based on unfulfilled hope. In those 240 games, he has only played six finals, never getting past a semi-final.
He has never had the chance to get close to a Grand Final, let alone win a premiership, and if he stays at Carlton, that will only continue.
There is only so much a player should have to endure and, most importantly, Carlton, in my view, was always going to take a step backwards this year after losing Bryce Gibbs to Adelaide and then Sam Docherty to a season-ending knee injury over the summer.
But not only have the Blues hit the hardest part of their rebuild, it appears they are still going backwards.
The weekend’s result, as horrific as it was, only confirms that. They are miles away.
I believe it is a football club’s duty to give every long-serving player a shot at playing in a Grand Final.
Aside from a promising 2011 season that ended in a hardfought semi-final loss to West Coast, the Blues have not even come close.
Murph needs to ask himself: AM I happy playing out the last two or three years of my career at a club where it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel? SHOULD I see if there is a club I can help challenge for a flag? DO I want to play out my career in a side that is stuck in a rebuild? HOW will I look back on my career when it’s all over?
Murphy may decide that one-club loyalty trumps everything, and if that is the case, all credit to him. It’s a noble stance to take.
But he should not feel compelled to take that stance if deep down he wants to explore greener pastures.
Kade Simpson is probably too old now to look for a rival club, but you do feel sorry for him that he won’t get the chance to play in a Grand Final.
That’s why I don’t not have a problem with players leaving their club to chase success late in their career.
No doubt it is hard for supporters to swallow, but if a player is fully invested while they are at the club from week to week, even if they have visions of leaving at season’s end, then that’s all that matters.
Radio talkback has been alight with frustrated Blues fans this week after they went goalless in the first half against the Dockers on Saturday.
However you spin it, that’s just not acceptable.
The club feels it is still on the right path.
Marc Murphy just needs to ask himself whether he wants to be part of that in his final years of playing footy.