Justin Murphy (Australian rules footballer)


Justin Murphy is a former Australian rules footballer who played with four clubs during his AFL career.

Early life

Murphy was raised in Victoria, and is of Indigenous Australian descent. He attended John Gardiner Secondary College and played junior Australian football with the Central Dragons.

AFL career

Murphy is a true journeyman of the AFL, playing his 185 games at four different clubs.
He is remembered as the player who was holding the ball in his hands when the final siren sounded in Carlton's upset 1-point win against Essendon in the 1999 Preliminary Final.
Murphy announced his retirement after he was delisted by Essendon after the conclusion of the 2005 AFL Season.

Post-AFL career

In 2006, Murphy joined the Heidelberg Football Club in Melbourne's Diamond Valley Football League. He played six seasons with the Tigers, in which time he played more than 100 games and won four Premierships.
In 2012, he played for the Tatura Football Club in the Goulburn Valley Football League, winning a premiership there; he played for Numurkah in the Murray Football League in early 2013, and returned to Heidelberg in late 2013, then moved to Knox in the Eastern Football League in 2014. Murphy has also played summer seasons in the Northern Territory Football League with Waratah.

Criminal convictions

In 2008, Murphy was convicted of stealing a woman's purse as it lay unattended on the counter of a Williamstown bank. It was also reported that he failed to pay an ordered $400 donation to a Black Saturday bushfire appeal that was part of his penalty for the theft.
in 2010, Murphy was arrested when police found two bags of crystal methamphetamine in his car. After initially telling police the drugs were his, but in court his lawyer claimed he had been claiming to protect his wife. Murphy plead guilty to one charge of possession of a drug of dependence and was released without charge on a 12-month good behavior bond. His lawyer also made an unsuccessful bid to suppress the details of the charge.
In 2017, Murphy was sentenced to 6 months in prison after pleading guilty to 28 charges including unlawful assault, aggravated burglary and making threats to kill. The charges related to a series of attacks on his former partner, Jill Scott, one of which involved him holding her down and burning her finger with a blowtorch. As a result of her injuries she had to have her finger amputated. Murphy blamed his actions on his addiction to the drugs ice and GHB.
He was released from prison in October 2017.