It’s Saturday, 15 July,  2000, and a powerful Carlton side led by Anthony Koutoufides, Stephen Silvagni and Scott Camporeale are set to face an injury-hit Bulldogs team at Optus Oval. 

Not many expected the Dogs to win that day, but win they did and an 18-year-old debutant by the name of Robert Murphy kicked the sealer. 

Well, he didn’t really, but that’s how Bulldogs fans have chosen to remember it. 

“Occasionally, Bulldogs supporters remind me that I kicked the winning goal that day, Murphy wrote in The Age in 2013.

“I never feel the need to tell them that, in fact, Carlton kicked a goal straight after mine and then Trent Bartlett got a dodgy free kick and slotted the winner for the Dogs.”

Never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn.

On the eve of 18-year-old Bailey Williams playing his first game against Melbourne on Sunday, Murphy spoke to westernbulldogs.com.au about his own debut all those years ago.

“My first game…long time ago now, Murphy recalled. 

“It was kind of just on the back end of suburban footy, it was at Optus Oval against a Carlton side that had won fourteen in a row. 

“We had a lot of players that were out, hence why I got a call up and I might have just been 70 kilos. “

The Dogs were fresh off a 43-point loss to Port Adelaide at Football Park in Adelaide but produced one of their great modern wins, getting over the line by three points on the back of big games from Simon Garlick, skipper Scott Wynd and 32 touches from Jose Romero.

Still in year 12 at Footscray City College at the time, Murphy recalls feeling so nervous pre-game that he feared the basic skill of kicking to a teammate in line drills may fail him. 

“I really did feel… not that I didn’t deserve to be there, but that I was a little bit out of my depth and we had a famous win.  

“It was just one of those magical days in footy and it’s something that’s still really precious even after all this time.”