Versatile Aaron Murphy happy to ‘do a job’ for Huddersfield Giants

The 30-year-old was in the thick of the action during Friday’s surprise 16-4 victory at champions Wigan Warriors.

Murphy arrived at Giants from Wakefield Trinity as a full-back/winger in 2012, but was switched to second-row with positive results last season.

However, he moved again at Wigan, starting in the loose forward role for the first time where he outplayed England captain Sean O’Loughlin.

“It was only the middle of last year I got switched to back-row and it’s been a slippery slope since as I keep getting moved further infield,” joked Murphy, who will be apprehensive about ending up at prop soon.

“I really enjoyed it. I’ve been enjoying playing back-row as well and Simon (Woolford) thought it’d be good for the team for me to play at 13.

“I was happy to do it. I’m a Jack of all trades, master of none, and thankfully we got the win.”

He made two clean breaks in the first half as his running quality was utilised by Matt Frawley, the Australian scrum-half who enjoyed his best game since joining from Canterbury Bulldogs last autumn.

“He’s a great player is Frawls,” said Murphy.

“Him and Lee Gaskell are coming into their own now and finding their feet as a partnership.

“Hopefully we can kick on now and all start playing well as a team. We’ve been struggling with our performances the last four weeks, so this has now got the monkey off our back.

“It was great to get that victory; we’ve been working hard in training and it finally came to fruition with our first win.”

Murphy’s contribution was all the more impressive given he clashed heads early on with Joe Wardle, his team-mate who also went on to produce a fine display.

“Joe got a few staples and I got a few stitches,” he said.

“I just got a little niggle on my knee later in the game, too, but hopefully it’ll be alright for St Helens at our place on Thursday.

“We know it’ll be a really tough game, but now we’ve got our first win it relieves a bit of pressure.”