Rob Harding, Murphy Reid's Talent League Coach - Vic Metro's U/18s Coach

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**Mark Duffield** (1:00)
Welcome back to the SENWA studio out here at Uptis Stadium on this Tuesday morning in Perth. Got a special treat for you now. Of course, Murphy Reid has just committed or recommitted to the Freemantle Dockers until the end of the 2032 season. He's absolutely flying. And we have his 18s coach on the line with us. Rob Harding from the Sandringham Dragons and also the Vic Metro coach. Rob, welcome.

**Rob Harding** (1:26)
Thanks, Mark. Good to still see you.

**Mark Duffield** (1:28)
Mate, can you remember when you first encountered Murphy Reid?

**Rob Harding** (1:34)
I can. My first year at the Dragons, which is four years ago, he was a bottom major in our preseason. And when you come into the role, we have a really big squad at the Dragons. So we had more than 90 players during preseason. You've got to get to know them all, which is a challenge for a coach, particularly one that can't remember names like I struggle with. But he stood out immediately. And the biggest thing that stood out with Murphy was anytime we did contest drills, which we do a lot of at the Dragons, his ability to slide through traffic and step out almost untouched was quite remarkable. And we joked amongst the coaches during that preseason that he basically hadn't been tackled all through the preseason. So immediately, you know, his evasiveness and his creativity stood out.

**Mark Duffield** (2:15)
And that was in the first year when he was an underage?

**Rob Harding** (2:19)
Yeah, that was as a bottom major. And Murphy played a bit of dragon's footing with us. He played in the Premiership as a dragon, as a bottom major. And he played a game for Vic Metro against WA at RCA that year and played well in that game. And we just saw, it wasn't even glimpses, he was actually quite consistent in his games as a bottom major. And I remember on Grand Final Day in 2023 against the Asian Rangers, who were probably favorites to win that game. He turned it for us in the last quarter. He hit two goals early in the last quarter. And we played him a lot as a high half forward, who came up to stoppage and then reset forward, which is sort of his role, particularly last year at Freo. And he was just so damaging and so creative. And if he wasn't kicking goals, he was handing them off. And at the end of that year, he really took his game to another level over the next preseason.

**Mark Duffield** (3:04)
What was his background when he first came to you? What was he doing as a junior? Was it just footy or are there other sports that have kind of fed into that high IQ that he's got?

**Rob Harding** (3:15)
There's a little bit of basketball in there, I think, for Murphy, but primarily football and just a lover of the game and really competitive. He's got a really good hidden competitive streak. And it was a fascinating conversation with recruiters at the end of his top age year around that side of him.
He's not one who's overtly competitive, but if there's a little hairball game going or something like that, he's really into it. And it's one of the things that you look for in kids coming through. I'm big that you can't really teach competitiveness. You've either got it or you don't. And he has it in spades. And yeah, it comes out in a different way, perhaps to some others. But we're really lucky in our 2024 group, which was Murphy's top age year, to have him and Levi Ashcroft and Luke Trainor and Tarsh Holt, and all these guys have gone on to be drafted, who I think within our program just kept pushing each other to get better. And that competitive nature within that group was really strong. And I think all of them benefited from it.