Colin Murphy's Diary

Colin has been a member of the Seattle Grizzlies for the past 4 years and plans to be in Australia until March of 2008 playing footy and enjoying the lifestyle on the Mornington Peninsula, about an hour south-east of Melbourne. He has written the following piece on his first game playing for the Sharks.

We had our first game on Saturday with myself being selected on grounds for the seconds. I was nervous as hell cause I was selected to be in the forward pocket, a position I have hardly ever played. The night before I went down to the oval and had a few shots on goal, none of which I made, I believe. The next day was the game. It was in the town of Rosebud, which is just up the road about 20 minutes. I caught a ride with a couple of the boys and watched the begining of the under 17's game which they won. We went into the training rooms half way through the game and started to get ready. My stomach was in knots and everyone kept asking me if I was ready or not! Don't know if there was alot of faith in me there or not. By the way we are the Sorrento Sharks and wear white and red like the Sydney Swans.

We got out jumpers on, taped up and hit the grounds for warm ups.  The weather was typical Seattle weather, wet as all hell. It made for an interesting game. The game started off pretty good with the ball moving down and back a few times before we got our composure and really presured them in their forward back line. After a few minutes we hit the first goal, and it was yours truly who got a hand ball off a contested mark and kicked one right through the middle of the goal. I kicked one more after that, with another team mate kicking one before the end of the first period.  The second quarter didn't go as well, and we were not able to kick a goal despite a few easy marks only a few metres out. The ball just went off the guy's foot wrong and he kicked a few points. By half we were still up by two or three goals. A few hot heated players, angry and giving some back calls, cost us a few 50 metre penalties which they converted to goals. After an inspirational pep talk from the coach we came back out and sealed the game in the 3rd and 4th. We won the game by a good 6 goals.

It's amazing the difference between play here and in America. It is so much faster, yet controlled at the same time. Everyone looks for options right off the ground, or right after a mark. There is no walking back and setting up for the kick after a mark, like many players do back home. It's almost one motion. They get the mark, run back a few paces, look for an option and kick. It all takes less than a few seconds. I can tell I'm going to learn a lot down here. I already have, and its only been a few weeks and one game. This upcoming game will be the best though. Its my team's arch rivals, Rye. The game will draw a few thousand people from the area to watch the second and the firsts. If the second and the first win, the town will explode during the night. I am told it will be better than New Years.

So wish me luck. Take care guys and talk to you soon. I'll do me best to keep you updated every week.

Cheers 
Colin

- Colin Murphy
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