{"id":543165,"date":"2026-03-16T02:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T02:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/543165\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T02:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T02:39:14","slug":"west-coast-eagles-debutant-milan-murdock-thanks-gold-coasts-mac-andrew-for-first-goal-after-on-field-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/543165\/","title":{"rendered":"West Coast Eagles debutant Milan Murdock thanks Gold Coast\u2019s Mac Andrew for first goal after on-field clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">West Coast debutant Milan Murdock has taken to social media to cheekily thank Gold Coast\u2019s Mac Andrew for his first goal in the AFL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">In one of his first acts at the top level, Murdock won a free kick for pinning the Suns defender holding the ball in the forward pocket and promptly received a 50-metre penalty after copping a retaliatory shove which sparked a brief melee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">He made no mistake from the goal square to kick his side\u2019s first major of the day, which was one of two he slotted while also winning 22 disposals in a 59-point defeat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">On Monday morning, Murdock took to Instagram to post a photo with Andrew, which appeared to have been taken in Optus Stadium\u2019s change rooms at some point in the past.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u2018Thanks for my first goal,\u2019 the caption reads along with an emoji of a goat, which means greatest of all time in modern sporting parlance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Speaking after the game, Murdock told Channel 7 he had experienced several surreal moments over the course of his debut.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cSitting on the bench at three-quarter-time, I was actually pinching myself (and saying) wake up,\u201d Murdock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cI still can\u2019t believe it. I\u2019ve worked so bloody hard to get here.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/18c81fb0bcfeb11112b903f404bb6464f786fac0.jpg\" alt=\"Milan Murdock celebrates his first AFL goal.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconMilan Murdock celebrates his first AFL goal. Credit: Russell Freeman\/AFL Photos\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cI\u2019m just extremely grateful for the West Coast footy club. I\u2019m loving life at the moment, I\u2019m so happy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThis was probably the most fun game of footy I\u2019ve ever been a part of, it was so quick and so contested. Everything was just so enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Gold Coast coach Damian Hardwick said he would work with Andrew \u2014 one of the league\u2019s best young key position players who signed a contract believed to be worth up to $12 million in 2024 \u2014 on controlling his aggression.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cI was disappointed with that tonight,\u201d Hardwick said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cHe\u2019s better than that. I know he\u2019s better than that. That frustrated me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cGenerally, there\u2019s times where I can handle it, but he overstepped the mark tonight. He knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Coast debutant Milan Murdock has taken to social media to cheekily thank Gold Coast\u2019s Mac Andrew for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,588,85,7067],"class_list":["post-543165","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-sport","tag-sports","tag-west-coast-eagles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543165","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=543165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}