i think some are being a bit harsh on Murphy here, how many times last season did we see Sam do a similar thing or at times get nowhere near a spiraling bomb?? happened on a good few occasions iirc so had Sam played what's to say he would he have gotten under it....

I actually don't think many people are blaming Murphy per se. Of course young players make mistakes...it's part of the learning experience. Every single plyer who has ever played the game has made mistakes. It's just a matter of how you learn from them. If I have a criticism of Murphy in that game (and it's only a small one) it's that he actually dropped two high kicks yet, instead of learning from the first, he seemed to think he had 'something to prove' in taking the second even though he was probably in an even worse position. having said that, the counter argument is that at least he was undaunted by his mistake which could be seen as a strong mental attitude. Either way I think most are in agreement that he has bags of potential and hopefully he'll have put that game behind him and go on to be the player we all think he could be.

dont think murphy was helped after the game when kris rads came into the south stand bar and his opening line was 'everyone's going to be talking about a young full back who made a mistake'

his speech was defending him but tbh no one around me was even mentioning the mistake. dont get me wrong kris rads is a wigan legend and is my favourite ever wigan player but i thought that was poor form.

also agree with a previous poster - its not like sam never dropped a bomb or made a mistake when it mattered last year.

I thought Murphy was very brave in even going for that late bomb. He could easily have backed away and prayed for the best but he didn't, he took responsibility for the situation and gave it a crack. It didn't come off but at least he showed some guts in the first place.

The sad part is if he had wimped out and left it then I'm 99% sure he'd have got away with it but those are the breaks.

The team didn't play well enough to win that game. It wasn't Murphys fault not Finch's fault but rather the fact that as a team it took us 45-50 minutes to get going and play like it wasn't a run of the mill league fixture (also known as friendlies).

Far as I'm concerned Murphy has the hallmarks of a good, maybe a great, player. If I'd been picking a MOTM from your lot for the first half he'd have been my choice.