By Beth Newman
If Mt Gravatt’s Chris Murphy is sure about one thing it’s that he wants no footballing regrets.
Murphy missed the entire 2013 season with a hand injury and admitted he would be “running the gauntlet” by playing this season, but the 21 year-old wants to make sure there’s no lingering thoughts on what might have been with his footy career.
“You only can play footy to a certain age and I’ve got some older mates who’ve retired now and they say they just miss it,” he said.
“I didn’t want to be 30 and think I quit when I was 21, not knowing how good I could have been or if the hand would’ve held up, so I just though t I’d leave no stone unturned.
“If it holds up, it holds up and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
Murphy has had two operations on his scaphoid bone, and trained a full pre-season in 2013 before being told his hand would keep him out for the regular season.
While it was a hard season not being able to run out for the Vultures, Murphy said health was his priority.
“You’ve got to care about your health rather than your footy and my mum made sure I did that, so I made the decision not to play just because of that,” he said.
“You don’t realise how much you miss footy until it’s taken away from you and that’s what I realised last year, so I’m just really keen to get back into the swing of things and see how I go.”
On the cusp of regular senior footy before his injury, Murphy will become one of the team’s elder statesmen this season, but said he was ready to take on the responsibility.
“I’m almost one of the senior boys in the team because we’ve got such a young squad,” he said.
“I think I’ll be able to bring that sort of experience, especially in the midfield group, to a lot of the younger guys.”
Murphy said the feeling amongst the players was overwhelmingly positive and he can’t wait to be a part of the Vultures’ new crop.
“We do need a few older heads and we’ve got a couple of them but it is good knowing that in two or three years’ time ,we’re all going to be in a really god age bracket where we can have some success,” he said.
Since making the decision to return in 2014, Murphy said the thought of finally playing has scarcely left his mind during his time away from the field.
“Throughout the year, I just wanted to play and play and I made the decision at the end of last year that I would play again,” he said.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about that game and I can’t wait to get back in with the boys.”
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The QAFL has been reformed in season 2014 due to a restructure of the NEAFL competition.
The Queensland Australian Football League aspires to be the best community-based football competition in the state. Provide a player pathway to the NEAFL/AFL and provide opportunities for the best community players to represent their clubs in a quality competition.
Clubs applied for a QAFL licence based on 6 core pillars (Administration, Finance, Brand & Culture, Performance, Facilities and Strategic Plan).
