{"id":3077,"date":"2025-07-18T12:17:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T12:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/3077\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T12:17:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T12:17:15","slug":"essendon-confirm-departure-of-its-head-of-high-performance-sean-murphy-casualty-ward-list-recovery-timeline-matthew-lloyd-reacts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/3077\/","title":{"rendered":"Essendon confirm departure of its head of high performance Sean Murphy, casualty ward list, recovery timeline; Matthew Lloyd reacts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Essendon<\/a> has acted on its alarming injury crisis and confirmed the club will be parting ways with its head of high performance at season’s end. <\/p>\n

And club great Matthew Lloyd<\/a> is not surprised by the news, feeling it was probably inevitable given the disastrous season they have had. <\/p>\n

Such concern saw a call on the future of Sean Murphy made just hours after the club fell to a troubling 48-point defeat to the Giants<\/a>. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Joey’s desperate plea as ‘inevitable’ Knights call looms<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Payten’s blunt message as finals hopes ‘slipping away’<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘My heart hurts’: Super Bowl winner dead at 38<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Zach<\/p>\n

Zach Merrett of the Bombers looks dejected after a loss.\u00a0AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Murphy, who joined the Bombers in 2020, came to a mutual agreement with the club that he would not receive a contract extension beyond the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

The Bombers revealed earlier this month they would be sharpening their focus<\/a> on their high-performance team amid a growing list of players sidelined with soft tissue injuries. <\/p>\n

Essendon named 15 players on its most recent injury list, with eight already ruled out for the season, and Lloyd believes something has clearly gone wrong behind the scenes. <\/p>\n

“It now allows them to not duck and weave, they can just get out there on the front foot and get ahead of everyone else (looking for a replacement),” Lloyd told 3AW.<\/p>\n

“I often look at the soft tissue side of it. You can’t help the ACLs. When you’re getting so many soft tissue injuries, I think to myself, ‘What has gone wrong in that program?’.<\/p>\n

“Who am I to tell a high-performance coach what they’re doing? It might have been the leg weights or the heavy leg program, but when you’re having one after another after another, there’s something that’s gone wrong in the program, which unfortunately had guys reoccurring or getting their first soft tissue injury.”<\/p>\n

Essendon general manager Dan McPherson thanked Murphy for his time at the club.<\/p>\n

“We want to thank Sean for his commitment to this role over the past six seasons,” the club’s general manager, McPherson, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“I want to thank Sean for the professionalism and integrity that he has carried himself with, particularly throughout what has been a really challenging season in 2025.”<\/p>\n

With 15 players currently unavailable for selection, McPherson reiterated that the club is “committed to undertaking all necessary work required to help us improve in this area.”<\/p>\n

“This decision enables us to take a fresh approach and reshape the team as we prepare for a crucial off-season ahead of the 2026 AFL campaign,” he continued.<\/p>\n

Of those sidelined, eight have been confirmed out for the season, four are set to return within the coming weeks, and three others have no recovery timeline.<\/p>\n

Bombers coach Brad Scott<\/a> has not dismissed the growing injury ward at this club, admitting the need for an investigation into what is going wrong in that department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, he reiterated that he has full confidence in the team’s medics.<\/p>\n

Murphy expressed his gratitude to the Bombers playing group and the staff.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated and professional staff, and I want to acknowledge their commitment throughout my time at the club,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I am proud of the support shown within our high-performance team to each other and the playing group in what has been a challenging season \u2013 it is a testament to the character of this team.”<\/p>\n

The Bombers confirmed the hunt to find Murphy’s replacement has already commenced.<\/p>\n

Adelaide head of high performance Darren Burgess was linked to Essendon, but has reportedly told the Crows he is staying put. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Essendon has acted on its alarming injury crisis and confirmed the club will be parting ways with its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-3077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077","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=3077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}