Carlton skipper Marc Murphy is rightly bullish about his club.
In fact, so bullish, he cannot recall the Blues being in a better position than they are right now since he joined the club more than a decade ago.
At 5-7, and in the midst of preparation for Sunday’s blockbuster against Richmond that is likely to attract a crowd upwards of 75,000, the Blues are confounding the critics who had them pinned to the wooden spoon.
“For a bloke who has been around the footy club for 11 years I think the club is in as good as spot as its ever been,” Murphy said on SEN Breakfast.
“We’ve got some guys who are going to be around for 10 or 12 years and come through together.
“It’s a good place to be at.”
With four rising star nominations after 13 rounds – Caleb Marchbank (Round 6), Sam Petrekski-Seton (Round 7), David Cunningham (Round 12) and Jack Silvagni (Round 13) – the Blues are on pace to set a record number of nominations in a single-season.
The 29-year-old captain, who is averaging a career-high 30 disposals and with seven goals is on track to reach a double figure tally for the first time since 2014, said he’s not surprised at the rate of development of the club’s younger generation.
“You could just tell as soon as they walked in the door that they were really keen about improving quickly and the fact some of the older guys are playing good footy makes it easier for these young blokes coming into the side,” he said.
While upbeat about the club’s direction, the first overall selection at the 2005 national draft is well aware of the task ahead against a Richmond side the Blues have not beaten since the 2013 elimination final.
“They’ve had it over us for quite a few years and other than the Port Adelaide game we played our worst game of footy for the year against them in Round 1 and got done by 43 points,” he said.
“I’d like to think we’ve improved a fair bit since then.”
A key match-up of the game will pit unlikely poster boy Liam Jones against Tiger star Jack Riewoldt.
Murphy had one word to describe Jones’s story.
“Inspirational,” he said.
“It’s been an amazing turnaround.
“It was like watching a bloke play against school kids he was dominating that much.”