He played 85 games for East Fremantle over five seasons, where he was a member of the 1979 premiership team[1] and won the club's fairest and best award in 1981.

[3] He debuted for Footscray in 1983 and played 112 VFL games over five seasons.

[4] He was awarded the Charles Sutton Medal in 1984 as the club's best and fairest[3] and in 1985 he helped the club reach the preliminary final, where they lost to Hawthorn by 10 points.

[6] Purser returned to Western Australia in 1988 and played two games for West Perth Football Club in the WAFL before retiring from football at age 28[2] to pursue a career in the finance industry.

[5] He was bound by a Footscray club rule to not enter the forward 50 and to always remain a kick behind play.