Article courtesy of aflplayers.com.au

In the inaugural year of free agency in AFL football Tom Murphy moved from Hawthorn to Gold Coast as an unrestricted free agent. Murphy played 17 games at the Gold Coast SUNS in 2013 after just six at Hawthorn in 2012.

This article was included in the 2012 AFL Players’ Annual Report.

I loved Hawthorn, I probably always will. They were the club who gave me my start in the AFL and I am forever grateful. But after eight years as a Hawthorn player I knew that there would be limited opportunities for me in the future.

The best AFL clubs have depth, that is one of the reasons why Hawthorn made the grand final in 2012, but one of the hardest things as a player is it be a part of that depth.

Speaking to my manager after the 2012 grand final he informed me I was likely to get another year at the Hawks but there was also an offer from the Gold Coast on the table. Thanks to free agency I was a Gold Coast SUN less than two weeks after the siren sounded on the 2012 season.

As an unrestricted free agent I was able to move from Hawthorn to Gold Coast with limited fuss. Over the years we have heard of players who want to move to a certain club but due to the complexity of trade week and the uncertainty of the drafts they have been unable to get to their desired destination and ended up staying put or going to their second or third choice club.

We have also seen deals get held up in trade week until the ‘big fish’ has been caught. I am so grateful that I didn’t have to contend with the stress of these two scenarios and I was able to slip through without any complication. The certainty of the offer from the Gold Coast made my decision so much easier.