Murphy Reid’s boots ahead of the R9 clash between Fremantle and Hawthorn at Optus Stadium on May 7, 2026. Pictures: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
YOU HAVE to be a special type of player to pull off the boots that Murphy Reid wore in Thursday night’s blockbuster against Hawthorn, but the Rising Star is proving to be just that after another star performance in prime time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reid was in the spotlight as much for his football at Optus Stadium as his choice of footwear after sponsor Adidas sent him a pair of their new Wales Bonner Predator boots this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A collaboration between the boot manufacturer and high-end fashion label, Reid loved them and put on a show in the fourth quarter, with every one of his six disposals in the final-term fightback a score involvement.<\/p>\n
A pair of missed shots in the fourth quarter was the only blemish, with Reid keen to break the boots in at training a little more before giving them another run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“They (Adidas) sent them out to me as a surprise this week and I heard there was a bit of talk about them,” Reid told\u00a0AFL.com.au\u00a0after the Dockers’ eighth straight win on Thursday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I couldn’t hit a kick tonight, so I’ll have to test them out at training next week and see how it goes, but they got a bit of traction.”<\/p>\n
Reid has been sponsored by Adidas since he was a draft prospect in 2024, with his status as a Telstra AFL Rising Star and All-Australian contender making him one of the most influential players in the competition on and off the field.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old finished with 20 disposals and an equal career-high four clearances on Thursday night, kicking a critical goal during the second quarter when Hawthorn had significant momentum.<\/p>\n
Murphy Reid shows off his new boots during the R9 match between Fremantle and Hawthorn at Optus Stadium on May 7, 2026. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
He paid tribute to midfield leaders Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw for the selfless roles they are playing to help him have an impact when rotating through the midfield.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“They’re unbelievable leaders of the football club and they’re stars of the competition, but they’re doing a lot of things this year to allow myself, Bolts (Shai Bolton), Youngy (Hayden Young) and those sorts of guys to float through there,” Reid said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“They both played unbelievable and are doing so much selfless stuff with their defensive acts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Caleb loved it and was cracking in. They’re his type of games where he just puts his head over it and just wins so many hard balls. So they’re unbelievable to play with and unbelievable role models.<\/p>\n
“Hopefully when I’m in there (midfield), I’m benefiting the team. I think it’s giving us a good look, changing up with all the different guys that are going through there.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Reid played in Fremantle’s elimination final against Gold Coast last season and said the pressure and intensity of Thursday night’s clash at Optus Stadium was comparable, with both teams lifting through a brutal third quarter that saw two goals kicked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He highlighted the influence of a massive crowd of 54,140, which is the second highest non-Derby crowd for the Dockers at Optus Stadium, outside Western Derbies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The crowd was unreal and they really lifted us. It was a great game of footy,” he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I’ve played one final, but that was probably the most intense footy I’ve been a part of, and neither team was scoring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It was just a bit of crash and bash, and they’ve got some big boys in there as well, so it was just unreal to be a part of it.”<\/p>\n
The Dockers now have a 10-day break before taking on Essendon at the MCG, with the players given some time off to recover after three consecutive six-day breaks between games.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the short term, they will sweat on scans for captain Alex Pearce after the important key defender copped a knock to his lower leg in the dying stages on Thursday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justin Longmuir and Alex Pearce after the round nine match between Fremantle and Hawthorn at Optus Stadium, on May 7, 2026. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n
Coach Justin Longmuir was unsure of the extent of any injury on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“He was fine when he walked off the ground and I was talking to him after the game, so we’ll have to wait and see,” he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Murphy Reid’s boots ahead of the R9 clash between Fremantle and Hawthorn at Optus Stadium on May 7,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85,83],"class_list":["post-657058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657058","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=657058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}