Glenelg's Brodie Murdoch, left, and Tim O'Brien moved from SA's south east to live in Adelaide together and hope to be drafted into the AFL. Picture: Sarah Reed. Source: adelaidenow
THEY'VE followed each other from an athletics track in the state's South-East, to a football field at Glenelg and they now share a house at West Beach.
But in a fortnight, Brodie Murdoch and Tim O'Brien could end up anywhere in the country.
Like hundreds of teenagers, the 18-year-olds are awaiting their fate in the November 22 AFL draft.
Country boys who moved to the big smoke in search of their dream which is now so close they can smell it.
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Murdoch, from Port MacDonnell, is the younger brother of Jordan who played eight AFL games in a successful debut season for Geelong this year.
He's a smart left-footer and AIS graduate who developed as a forward but cracked Glenelg's league team as a defender.
O'Brien is a dual senior premiership ruckman with Mount Gambier West his first flag coming at just 16.
"I didn't really understand it (premiership) at that age,'' O'Brien said.
"But then our whole team was pretty young and I got to play with my brother, which was good.''
The red-headed big man now stands 193cm and has a terrific mark and good leg speed, which was evident at draft camp where he recorded the third-best result in agility.
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The pair first appeared at Glenelg three years ago when they would make the 10-hour return car trip to the Bay for under-15 games.
But their earliest memory of each other goes back to primary school days at the athletics oval.
"Tim was definitely the better runner 100m, 200m and high jump as well,'' Murdoch said.
"But I was better at throwing the discus and javelin.
"We're good mates and have had the same ambitions for a while.''
Murdoch played one league game this season and O'Brien spent the whole season in the reserves while both played the under-18 national championships.
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Murdoch has long been groomed for the AFL system via the AIS Academy but O'Brien only started believing in his AFL dream mid-season.
"When clubs started talking to me,'' he said, after being interviewed by no less than 16 teams.
"That (AFL) was the point of coming up here.
"I was going to stay home and have a gap year after school because AFL was more just a hope and a dream.''
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