I don't disagree with a lot of what you're saying but I do think you (and a lot of others) are taking a very pessimistic approach to his selection, he's still a good player. I would think he's a certainty to play round 1, but by round 22, who knows, I would hope guys like Dow, O'Brien, Stocker and even Gibbons or Cunningham are taking his spot in the midfield.Everyone has a valid opinion.
Mine is that i don't know how anyone can watch the current version of Murphy play and think that he is a positive for a contending team. People want to say that our wings are defensive wings, yet we kept getting opened up regularly. His standards are shocking for a senior player imo. His skills no better, and more than his fair share of stats are as cheap as they come.
I'm resigned to another 15 games, but i can still hope that we can move forward in being fair dinkum quicker than that.
If anyone disagrees with this, they are more than welcome to that opinion. I might be wrong and they may be right. But i deadset reckon he has the politics of selection stitched up. At least for 15 games max. Alas.
I think we can do better from Rd1.