As a junior, he played for the Gippsland Power in the Victorian TAC Cup competition and was regarded as an accurate goal kicker.

He was retained for the following week's game against Sydney, but after again not scoring, he was dropped back to South Fremantle for the remainder of the season.

[2] 2005 saw Murphy play 10 AFL games for nine goals, but was not able to cement a permanent position in the Fremantle team.

In the following four seasons he struggled to maintain a position in the side and was often dropped to the WAFL due to poor form.

A notable case of this occurred in 2009 when Murphy was dropped a week after kicking Fremantle’s only goal against Adelaide, in the lowest VFL/AFL score since 1961.