Nathan Murphy

[GregPackhamsHeadband]

This kid is a bit of a draft bolter with a St.Kilda connection. His dad, Sean Murphy, played for the saints under 19s in the early 80's. Nathan is a gun cricketer who's had to choose between AFL and cricket, like Will Sutherland. He has officially decided to pursue AFL and nominate for the draft. He's been invited to the testing camp and will be playing both in the TAC GF for the Dragons and in the TAC Allstars game before the senior GF. That should give us a good look at him.

A product of Brighton Grammar, he is 188 cm tall and has been likened to Tim Membrey. Strong overhead, a good kick(tick) especially for goal (even bigger tick) he is said to have good agility and is a strong runner as well. Draft watchers, as well as Brett Anderson on SEN have him jumping into the first round, somewhere between 10-15. He has flown under the radar a bit as he had dedicated himself to cricket, but like Jack Sinclair, he has a massive upside in that once he is in the AFL environment he may improve rapidly. Does anyone on here know more about him, or have any of you seen him play? Thoughts?

[howlinwolf]

Thanks for the post GPHB.
It's great to get some background on draft hopefuls. I will be keeping an eye out for Nathan.

Now we did have some luck with a previous draftee.
Similar cricket/AFL skills.
Same sport code choices.
He went on to be our games record holder and dual Brownlow medalist.
Maybe even a soon to be assistant coach !

Jack Sinclair also comes to mind.
The skills across both sports shows eye/hand coordination skill that is not to be dismissed.
A lot of great AFL players have low golf handicaps too. BJ comes to mind.

[GregPackhamsHeadband]

Thanks for the post GPHB.
It's great to get some background on draft hopefuls. I will be keeping an eye out for Nathan.

Now we did have some luck with a previous draftee.
Similar cricket/AFL skills.
Same sport code choices.
He went on to be our games record holder and dual Brownlow medalist.
Maybe even a soon to be assistant coach !

Jack Sinclair also comes to mind.
The skills across both sports shows eye/hand coordination skill that is not to be dismissed.
A lot of great AFL players have low golf handicaps too. BJ comes to mind.

Don't you just hate them? Bloody show offs!

[saint64]

We have had a few useful multi sportsmen playing for us over the years - Simon O'Donnell, Sam Loxton, Sam Fisher, and some bloke called Keith Miller, to name a few.

[Joffa Burns]

Very hard to judge a kid at APS or AGSV as you mix some draftable talent with kids who are local club level at best.
I saw Battle play APS and didn't think he would play AFL due to lack of lateral movement and no tbeing big enough for KPP.
Dominated kids but can't see how he'd do it at AFL level.

Murphy is quick, agile, good hands and a very nice kick.
He is going to Have to change his game at AFL level.
Would see him become more of a Tom Lynch Adelaide link player or a than Membery.

I'd say a 2nd to 3rd rounder with plenty of upside given the cricket background.

[George27]

We have had a few useful multi sportsmen playing for us over the years - Simon O'Donnell, Sam Loxton, Sam Fisher, and some bloke called Keith Miller, to name a few.

Peter Bennett , who played full forward for us in the 50s, was an Aussie Olympian water polo player.

George Young played shield cricket for WA before he came over to us ( sadly, he played cricket here for Carlton) and scored a shield century. Bruce Duperouzel also played for WA at shield level.

Many star junior footy players were also gun school cricketers. Luke Ball was a star at Xavier - averaging
68 with the bat over 4 years .

[loris]

We have had a few useful multi sportsmen playing for us over the years - Simon O'Donnell, Sam Loxton, Sam Fisher, and some bloke called Keith Miller, to name a few.

Peter Bennett , who played full forward for us in the 50s, was an Aussie Olympian water polo player.

George Young played shield cricket for WA before he came over to us ( sadly, he played cricket here for Carlton) and scored a shield century. Bruce Duperouzel also played for WA at shield level.

Many star junior footy players were also gun school cricketers. Luke Ball was a star at Xavier - averaging
68 with the bat over 4 years .

And ofcourse, we can't forget Shane Warne, even though he never made seniors at Saints in footy. Did Warnie play in the Reserves for the Saints or was it only Under 19 comp?

[MickThomas]

We have had a few useful multi sportsmen playing for us over the years - Simon O'Donnell, Sam Loxton, Sam Fisher, and some bloke called Keith Miller, to name a few.

Peter Bennett , who played full forward for us in the 50s, was an Aussie Olympian water polo player.

George Young played shield cricket for WA before he came over to us ( sadly, he played cricket here for Carlton) and scored a shield century. Bruce Duperouzel also played for WA at shield level.

Many star junior footy players were also gun school cricketers. Luke Ball was a star at Xavier - averaging
68 with the bat over 4 years .

And ofcourse, we can't forget Shane Warne, even though he never made seniors at Saints in footy. Did Warnie play in the Reserves for the Saints or was it only Under 19 comp?

wikipedia says:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Warne
During the cricket offseason in 1987 Warne played five games of Australian rules football for the St Kilda Football Club's under 19 team.
In 1988 Warne once again played for the St Kilda Football Club's under 19 team before being upgraded to the reserves team, one step below professional level. (MickThomas says "professional"? seniors...)
Following the 1988 Victorian Football League season Warne was delisted by St Kilda and began to focus solely on cricket.
He was later chosen to train at the AIS Australian Cricket Academy in 1990 in Adelaide.[10]

[MickThomas]

We have had a few useful multi sportsmen playing for us over the years - Simon O'Donnell, Sam Loxton, Sam Fisher, and some bloke called Keith Miller, to name a few.

Peter Bennett , who played full forward for us in the 50s, was an Aussie Olympian water polo player.

George Young played shield cricket for WA before he came over to us ( sadly, he played cricket here for Carlton) and scored a shield century. Bruce Duperouzel also played for WA at shield level.

Many star junior footy players were also gun school cricketers. Luke Ball was a star at Xavier - averaging
68 with the bat over 4 years .

And ofcourse, we can't forget Shane Warne, even though he never made seniors at Saints in footy. Did Warnie play in the Reserves for the Saints or was it only Under 19 comp?

Warne was promoted to reserves against the Blues, while Harvey, Fode and Bowey got picked in the seniors;
the coaches didn't think Warney was ready for seniors.

Just one game in the Ressies, then delisted at year's end

http://www.saints.com.au/news/2013-01-0 ... footballer


...John Beveridge was the Saints’ development officer at the time and recalled Warne’s only reserves game more than 24 years ago....

[saynta]

We have had a few useful multi sportsmen playing for us over the years - Simon O'Donnell, Sam Loxton, Sam Fisher, and some bloke called Keith Miller, to name a few.

Peter Bennett , who played full forward for us in the 50s, was an Aussie Olympian water polo player.

George Young played shield cricket for WA before he came over to us ( sadly, he played cricket here for Carlton) and scored a shield century. Bruce Duperouzel also played for WA at shield level.

Many star junior footy players were also gun school cricketers. Luke Ball was a star at Xavier - averaging
68 with the bat over 4 years .

And ofcourse, we can't forget Shane Warne, even though he never made seniors at Saints in footy. Did Warnie play in the Reserves for the Saints or was it only Under 19 comp?

Warne was promoted to reserves against the Blues, while Harvey, Fode and Bowey got picked in the seniors;
the coaches didn't think Warney was ready for seniors.

Just one game in the Ressies, then delisted at year's end

http://www.saints.com.au/news/2013-01-0 ... footballer




...John Beveridge was the Saints’ development officer at the time and recalled Warne’s only reserves game more than 24 years ago....

Georgie Young was a state cricketer as well.