 Murphy played in the club's final ever game as a stand-alone entity, which was a 20–12 loss against Canterbury in the 1998 finals series.Murphy then signed on with St. George as they formed a joint venture with Illawarra to form St. George Illawarra and played in the club's first game against Parramatta.Murphy joined the Wests Tigers in 2001 and retired at the conclusion of that season.