East Fremantle star Milan Murdock shines in unfamiliar forward role en route to Simpson medal, premiership glory

Prolific, skilful and with little regard for his personal safety, the 23-year-old is a massive reason East Fremantle went as far as it did in 2023.

AFL recruiters have shown timid interest but when they return to their list of desired midfield “traits”, Murdock’s 180cm stature almost always counts against him. Yet, the on-baller finished equal-fifth in the Sandover Medal despite missing five games late with an AC joint injury.

Murdock returned in time to win a game-high 31 disposals in East Fremantle’s semi-final victory over Peel Thunder. Then, in the days after qualifying for the grand final, East Fremantle coach Bill Monaghan approached Murdock with a plan that went against everything the Sharks had done to date.

He wanted him to play as a small forward.

“We thought of it last Tuesday, a week and a half ago after the Peel game,” Murdock said. “We wanted to try something new and it’s worked out really well but hopefully I’m back in the midfield next year.”

The shock positional shift delivered Murdock a Simpson medal, judged the best player on the ground with eight of a possible nine votes. Murdock finished with 27 possessions, seven inside 50s six tackles and a goal. But his constant pressure, his willingness to charge off the half-forward flank and win the ball forward and his ability to bring his teammates into the game were the makings of a grand final hero.

“It’s pretty awesome,” he said. “I played a different role today. I played as a small forward but obviously, I had a bit of impact to be able to win that. That’s gone towards winning the game so it’s unreal.”

Making the win even more special is the fact Murdock is a product of the East Fremantle pathway. A graduate of the Sharks’ futures program, Murdock spent two years in the club’s colts side before making his senior debut in 2018. He cemented his spot in East Fremantle’s league side the following season where he has remained since, witnessing the lows of several disappointing seasons finally convert to premiership glory.

And Murdock doesn’t intend to wait another 25 years for East Fremantle’s next premiership.

“The big focus now is to make sure we don’t have a premiership hangover. We’re going to come back next pre-season, put the work in, and try to go back-to-back,” he said.

“For the people that have stuck around over the past seven or eight years when we’ve been going through the dumps … they’ve stuck around and now we’ve come good again. We’ve done it for them as well.

“As a local boy, guys like me, Cam Eardley, those who have come through East Freo, it’s unreal.”

Murdock was also proud of the fact he was able to recover from a shoulder injury and have an impact in East Fremantle’s finals series, even if the Sharks’ decision to return him via the reserves nearly sparked a fracas.

“Footy is the biggest part of my life so it wasn’t that hard to do the rehab properly and come back,” Murdock said. “Bill (Monaghan) said to a few people I nearly had a fight with him because he put me through the twos but it’s gotten me here today and healthy.

“I was always going to make it back no matter what. I’d either jab it or push through it.”

It took a third of the way through the final quarter for East Fremantle to accept that grand final glory was theirs. And even if it took a quarter of a century for the Sharks to finally add a 30th WAFL premiership, it was still worth the wait.

“We probably celebrated a little bit too early,” Murdock admitted. “But I’m so proud of this group and what we’ve done today. Two weeks ago, obviously Peel fought back in the last quarter and despite us being up by 30 points, we only just won. Today, we put the foot down and kept working.

“I’m over the moon. I can’t even explain it. You only dream of these sorts of things and it’s actually happened. It hasn’t sunk in yet.”