Irish Echo Sport

Sydney Swans’ Carlow rookie Brendan Murphy gives us the latest update on life in the AFL and his recovery from a shoulder injury.

This week, he’s back in Sydney and back in rehab…

Well I’m back in Oz and I’m looking forward to getting this shoulder right.

It was hard leaving home and saying my goodbyes again – although maybe I’m just a bit soft – but once I got on the plane there wasn’t be a bother on me.

My sister has come back over with me for a month too so it’ll be good to show her around the club and the set up we have.

The shoulder is feeling a lot better and I have a good amount of movement in it so hopefully I’m further ahead in terms of returning to the reserves than they thought I would be at this stage.

I think the main thing will be getting confidence back because I feel that unless I take a tackle or a big hit I’ll probably have it in the back of my head that maybe it’s not as strong as it was.

Only time will tell I suppose.

People have been asking me whether, if and when I get myself fit again and come home at the end of the season, will that be it and I’ll be home in Ireland for good?

I honestly believe I’ll be in Sydney in November again for another season is the answer to that.

I just can’t go home without playing a senior game.

The support I’ve received while I was at home was great and I’d really like to thank everyone for that.

There was talk that Kyle Coney may be returning to Australia on the same flight as me but that didn’t happen.

When I was back home I tried to hang around with the local footballers to feel part of things. I know I’ve said it before, and I’m probably annoying people now, but I love feeling like I’m part of the action in Sydney again.

I really enjoy being with the Swans, but the atmosphere with the boys here is just 10 times better just because most of them are your best friends and boys you’ve played alongside since you were chaps – they just share the passion for Rathvilly!

I’m just focused on getting myself back fit and getting my body right again.

I enjoyed myself at home without a doubt so I’m expecting a lot of black smoke! 

The Swans are really in up and down form at the minute. I went to the game against Richmond at the weekend and it brought back the passion inside me to get a game in the seniors.

It’s good to be back among the boys and get a feel for the club again because when I’m back home in Ireland Australia just feels a million miles away – all I’m looking at is the boys playing Gaelic football so I’m not really thinking about playing AFL at all.

The boys won in the end by 19 points but really should have hammered them early in the game.

That’s the challenge they’re finding hard to get over at the minute. We’ve won three and lost three but we really should have a few more wins under our belt.

The players got a bit of a blasting off the coach, so I’m sure they’ll turn things around.

The players know the level they have to get to to chase the leaders. St Kilda are the team to beat at the minute with six wins from six, but we should have beaten them in round one so it just shows that when we play well we can stay with any team in the AFL.

I’m going to be alone now a lot of the time as when I’m doing weights the boys will be training and vice versa. That’ll be a challenge in itself. There’s tough times ahead for me.

I’d like to say congratulations to Sean O’Brien and Bernard Jackman on their great win against Munster in the Heineken Cup semi-final – an unbelievable performance and win and hope they can go all the way and bring the cup back home!