Dogs hoping club great will Bob up again at the Kennel

[bornadog]

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THE WESTERN Bulldogs have approached club great Bob Murphy to return to the Whitten Oval, following his departure from Fremantle.

Murphy resigned as the Dockers? head of leadership last month after spending three seasons in Perth in a variety of roles under Justin Longmuir.

The 42-year-old has since returned to Melbourne with his family and is exploring opportunities to resume his media career, appearing on Triple M and ABC in September.

Before Murphy moved to Fremantle, the dual All-Australian combined his radio commitments at SEN with multiple roles at his old club, including in the W program, the media department and as a club ambassador.

The Bulldogs would like Murphy to return in a similar capacity around his media commitments in 2025.

Murphy is one of the club?s favourite sons after playing 312 games across 18 seasons in red, white and blue before he retired in 2017.

After widespread change and two different reviews, the Dogs aren?t expected to make many, if any, changes to the football department this off-season.

This time last year they poached Matt Egan from Geelong and promoted him to GM over the pre-season, also adding Daniel Pratt from West Coast, who was voted assistant coach of the year by the AFL Coaches Association earlier this month.

Former St Kilda captain Jarryn Geary joined the club as development and leadership coach and will continue to run the leadership program at the kennel.

Premiership Sydney defender Alex Johnson also returned to clubland as a development coach, where he spent 2024 working closely with the young key position players at the Whitten Oval.

[GVGjr]

So we've announced Murphy is returning to the club but we haven't yet got him linked to a clearly defined role.
Curious timing of the announcement.

[bornadog]

So we've announced Murphy is returning to the club but we haven't yet got him linked to a clearly defined role.
Curious timing of the announcement.

It says hoping, so not yet signed up

[Bumper Bulldogs]

Good news. We?re getting the band back together

[Grantysghost]

Bob be good in the development academy.

[1eyedog]

I'm indifferent to this and kinda feel I'm shooting Bambi but I'm concerned we'll make roles for him out of nostalgic feel good reasons rather than briniging him in to fill a particular and improtant need.

He'd be perfect in the Alex Johnson role but that role is filled. If it's a media / club Ambassador-type role as stated that would work, but it's a bit of a fall from grace for Bob unless his first priority is media work outside the club.

[Mofra]

I too am confused. What will Bob do at the club and is this just a job for the boys?

[westbulldog]

I would prefer Dale Morris.

[GVGjr]

I too am confused. What will Bob do at the club and is this just a job for the boys?

Jobs need to be clearly defined, performance measurable and with the aim of bringing in the best candidates. We've flagged our intention to use Bob in some capacity going forward but we are none the wiser on what that role is.
I admired the way he stepped forward for us when he did but he doesn't appear to have done that well at Freo so it does smack of looking after our own.
Let's hope it works out well.

[Sedat]

He'd be perfect in the Alex Johnson role but that role is filled. If it's a media / club Ambassador-type role as stated that would work, but it's a bit of a fall from grace for Bob unless his first priority is media work outside the club.

Yep, but as GVGjr has pointed out there needs to be some measurables to compare his performance against. You can't just spend endless hours talking about how the jumpers look so much better with collars on them.

We need a stronger presence with our media/PR so hopefully Bob can be used in this capacity - he just needs to understand we have an incredibly broad supporter base, so he can't just pander to his little niche Northcote/Fitzroy/Melbourne Bitter hipster base. He's smart, articulate and has the ability to cut through when given a clear brief.

[GVGjr]

Yep, but as GVGjr has pointed out there needs to be some measurables to compare his performance against. You can't just spend endless hours talking about how the jumpers look so much better with collars on them.

We need a stronger presence with our media/PR so hopefully Bob can be used in this capacity - he just needs to understand we have an incredibly broad supporter base, so he can't just pander to his little niche Northcote/Fitzroy/Melbourne Bitter hipster base. He's smart, articulate and has the ability to cut through when given a clear brief.

Fully agree that a job as a media engagement manager could be a real positive for the club and Bob could very well be the right person for it.I thought Bevo did a very good job in the media this year but getting a more positive message out on a regular basis would be a solid move.

We are speculating on the role so lets wait and see.

[Rocco Jones]

Totally agree with the brief thing.

Seems like most of his work time will be with the media and our role a casual/part time one. Still need a brief/plan regardless of course.

Media wise, us and the other 3 smaller Melbourne teams are easy targets. Makes sense to attack us as 95% of the audience don't go for us. I think we need to be a lot smarter with how we interact/engage with the media. We/Bevo have made an improvement this year but for a very long time, from my POV, it's either remaining very quiet/meek or reactive anger from Bevo (and sometimes Luke Darcy).

Bob is a funny one. As Sedat mentioned, he goes Hipster niche whilst mainly working on bogan platforms like SEN. He isn't really filling the hipster niche even imo, like a hipster caricature and hipsters like stuff to be more organic.

We have very little friends and a lot of enemies in the media. I think Bob will use his time with us and in media to perhaps give us a bit more of a Bambi feel (intent or otherwise).

[jeemak]

We get smacked for standing up for ourselves, we get smacked for being too meek. The media and AFEL house want us to be easy pickings, in our place, until we deliver something they can jump onto to raise expectations so they can smack us down again if we don't meet them.

I'll take the enemies in the media any day versus the fake sycophants. Bob won't shift the dial in any way, no matter what his role might be in the media and for us. What I want him and the club to focus on is delivering the best member experience possible, solely for our members.

[SonofScray]

Don’t see a need for Bob to be involved, as much as I love the bloke and appreciate his perspective on the Club.