Justin Murphy has only been at Essendon for a short period, but in this time has found inspiration from his skipper James Hird. Murphy said the team will be keen to win against Richmond not only to return to the winner’s list but also to help Hird celebrate his 200 game milestone.

""You don’t often get the opportunity to play in such an important milestone game with such a great leader and great player like James. If you don’t really lift for these occasions, you are letting yourself down and most of all James Hird,"" Murphy said.

""I have only been around the club for six to eight months and he is an inspiration to me already. You go out there and try your best to win for the club and yourself, but also for James.""

Murphy will be keen to continue his best on ground form against the Kangaroos into Saturday’s match. Murphy spent the majority of the game in the forward-line last Friday night and the move paid dividends. The 28-year-old was the team’s major goal-scorer, finishing with five majors.

""Because I was starting up forward, Robert Shaw mentioned to me to try and kick some goals. I actually haven’t got past five goals in my whole career, so it would have been nice to kick a couple more and of course for us to win. If you can take a positive out of such a bad loss, then for me personally it was an okay game,"" Murphy said.

Three of Murphy’s five goals against the Kangaroos were from shots outside 50m. Murphy said he has been encouraged by the coaching staff to back himself from long distances and have a shot for goal. ""I have always been able to kick the distance, so I normally try and have a shot.""

Although Murphy’s preference is to play in the mid-field, he doesn’t mind a bit of diversity and enjoyed playing forward last Friday night. ""I don’t mind breaking it up every so often and playing down there with Lloydy,"" he said. ""If I can snag a couple of goals it is pretty handy. Saying that it would have been better if we had of won. Hopefully this week we can turn it around.

""We have a big game this week, although we said that about last week’s game, but this match has even has more significance now. Especially with Hirdy’s 200^th as well, we can’t let our captain down like we did last week. I know he will go out there and give his all. We just have to follow suit,"" Murphy said.

Murphy will be hard pressed to top the events of last weekend. After a best on ground performance on Friday night, he got engaged to his long-time girlfriend Cindy on Sunday. So it was a big weekend all round for Murphy.