\n The Brisbane Lions have gone international in a bid to further improve their list, signing one of Ireland\u2019s young rising Gaelic stars Ben Murphy.\n <\/p>\n
The Brisbane Lions have gone international in a bid to further improve their list, signing one of Ireland\u2019s young rising Gaelic stars Ben Murphy.<\/p>\n
Securing the talented 18-year-old\u2019s signature as a Category B rookie comes almost two years after the Lions first identified the Kerry and Austin Stacks midfielder.<\/p>\n
Murphy, who received interest from several other AFL clubs, said he was thrilled to become a Lion and to be starting a new life in Brisbane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am really excited to get the chance to join the Brisbane Lions and play AFL,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think anyone joining a team in the position the Lions are in, as back-to-back premiers, would be delighted and I am no different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murphy becomes the third current Irish player on the Lions\u2019 AFL list and sixth in total at the Club including three AFLW players.<\/p>\n
The talented teenager said he is taking inspiration from premiership Lion Conor McKenna and defender Darragh Joyce as well as rival stars.<\/p>\n
One of those is Geelong\u2019s Mark O\u2019Connor who Murphy lined up on last weekend in a final back home in Ireland between Austin Stacks and Dingle.<\/p>\n
Seeing these players make the code switch and move across the globe has Murphy confident he can do the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cAFL is similar enough to Gaelic, though I expect to face a few obstacles like getting used to a totally new ball – but I\u2019m excited to face the challenge,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been a number of players make the switch like Conor (McKenna) and Darragh (Joyce) already at the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there are also a few other players that I aspire to be like back in Kerry like Mark O\u2019Connor, Cillian Burke (Geelong) and I went to school with Rob Monahan (Carlton) as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing a person so close to you being successful really gives you the confidence that you can be too if you put your mind to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also hope to inspire other young players by showing them if you keep working hard you will get your opportunities too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brisbane Lions Pro Scout, Shane Rogers has played a key role in identifying and putting in the work to sign Murphy.<\/p>\n
The experienced recruiter said the Club was excited to have Murphy arriving at Brighton Homes Arena for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are delighted to have Ben sign with the Club because he is an elite talent,\u201d Rogers said<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stands at 191 centimetres and is growing, he has speed, has agility and an ability to read the game quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the attractive aspects of his recruitment is his calm demeanour, especially when under pressure within the game that allows him to make excellent decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also displays impressive traits such as strong work ethic; he is mature beyond his years and has leadership qualities including being the Kerry under-17 captain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murphy\u2019s recruitment is set to add further versatility to the Lions\u2019 list, giving coach Chris Fagan another player who can play various positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been a midfielder in Gaelic, though with his size and athletic profile it should allow him to play multiple roles at AFL level,\u201d Rogers explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will start as a defender initially whilst he learns the game but has scope to develop craft across a number of lines and the ability to play wing long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to having Ben arrive for preseason training next month and also welcome the Murphy family of Benny, Claire, Jack and Harry to the Lions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brisbane Lions have gone international in a bid to further improve their list, signing one of Ireland\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-259737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}