By ADEM SARICAOGLU
FORMER Western Bulldog Brad Murphy has been revealed as the new coach of the Ballarat Football League’s Melton Bloods.
Murphy, who in recent seasons has juggled the captaincy of Hoppers Crossing’s senior team with coaching duties of the club’s under-18s in the Western Region Football League, will replace Bob Heaney in 2014 and will embark on his first senior coaching gig in a playing capacity.
“I think it’s the perfect opportunity for me to get my career started in senior coaching,” Murphy said.
The youthful Bloods were poor in 2013, finishing 10th on the BFL ladder with just a single win to their name, which came against wooden spooner Sebastopol in late June.
Murphy said he spent last week speaking to a number of the club’s senior players, telling them he will be working from a clean slate this preseason.
“It’s a fresh start with all of them,” Murphy said.
“I don’t care what they did in 2013 or before that, they’re all on an even playing field now and that’s a good thing about someone coming in from outside the footy club.
“I think in the last seven years they’ve had a coach that’s been involved with the club in some way, so I think the committee wanted to get someone from the outside involved just to change things up.”
Murphy is aware coming over from the WRFL will require some adjusting to, but he has already identified Melton’s lack of fitness and experience as key factors in their dismal showing in 2013.
“I haven’t really seen the guys play and haven’t even seen them train so I don’t know much about them, but what I do know is stats don’t lie,” Murphy said.
“I’ve gone over all the stats from 2013 and I think they had 80-odd goals kicked against them in last quarters – which obviously indicates to me their lack of fitness.
“So we’ve got a fitness guy employed already, and he’s going to take over the preseason in terms of fitness so come round one, we’ll be nice and fit.
“I watched a few videos online and it’s pretty open footy (in the BFL).
“The grounds are a lot bigger than in the WRFL, so it places even more emphasis on the fitness and speed side of things.”
Brett Pitts (Glenroy) is the only confirmed new signing for the Bloods so far, but Murphy said he’ll be looking to inject more experience into the squad over the summer.
