BRIAN Lake has gone against the grain, suggesting Western Bulldogs captain Robert Murphy should retire.

Murphy, who is five games shy of playing 300 games, ruptured his ACL on Sunday in the Dogs’ three-point loss to reigning premiers Hawthorn.

Lake said while it heartbreaking to see Murphy go down injured, it presented younger players with an opportunity to step up and fill the void.

“I don’t want to shoot Bambi here, but I would say it’s better for the team if he retires,” Lake told AFL 360.

Round 18

Lake played alongside Murphy before moving to Hawthorn where he won three premierships.

LISTEN TO THE LATEST FOX FOOTY PODCAST FEATURING TOM CHADWICK, RILEY BEVERIDGE AND BEN WATERWORTH BELOW, OR CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE IN iTunes

While he wasn’t captained by Murphy, he said his time at the club had been structured around individuals, often to the detriment of the team.

Lake said the romance of Murphy playing again was clouding what was best for the future of the club in its quest for a second premiership.

“With the Bulldogs it’s always been about the individual a little bit too much, not about the team.,” he said.

“And I think for the betterment of the team and the way they’re going, he should retire.

“Luke Beveridge has brought a lot to the club and changed a lot and I don’t think one person is going to make that much of a difference.”

Having played at Hawthorn — a club built on strong systems, not individuals — Lake said the Bulldogs would be flirting with danger if they encouraged Murphy to extend his career.

“If it was anyone else who had done their knee at 33, you’d be showing them the door straight away,” he said.

Dyson Heppell said it would be unusual for a 33-year-old to continue playing after such an horrific injury. But he said if any player was capable of making a comeback it was Murphy.

“He is playing his best footy at this stage of his career,” he said.

“You have seen cases were blokes do a knee and they come back and play even better footy than they had. I think he still has quite a number of years ahead of him to be honest.”

Rush Hour (Fox Sports News)

FORMER Essendon player Mark McVeigh believes Dyson Heppell can still be the next Bombers captain, despite the recent speculation that the midfielder is on the brink of taking the club to court.

Reports emerged on Thursday evening that Heppell, who is currently one of 34 past and present Dons who are suspended by WADA, will launch an unprecedented $1 million compensation claim against his current employer — Essendon Football Club.

“These are challenging times for the footy club,” McVeigh, who is also suspended from football, told Fox Sports News.

“All things considered, Dyson is very valuable to them. He is very marketable and represents himself well in the media. He’s certainly a terrific player and can be a future captain if that’s the road they choose to go down.

“There will be some difficult conversations there behind close doors and they will come to some sort of agreement.”

McVeigh also refused to rule out following in Heppell’s footsteps and suing the Bombers.

McVeigh played 232 games for Essendon from 1999-2012 and is suspended from his assistant coaching role at GWS this season.

“I’m yet to have any discussions with Essendon about that (legal claims),” he said.

“I just hope that all parties get looked after at the moment. I’ve been concentrating on what I can do right now and those might come down the path.”

“This will happen all year and we will be talking about it right until the very end. I really hope the current players can stick together.”

AFL 360 (Fox Footy)

PORT Adelaide chairman David Koch says he’s “tested the waters” to see if another club is interested in playing in next year’s groundbreaking game in China.

Koch didn’t disclose which club he had spoken to, but didn’t knock back suggestions that it might be a team from a state or area with strong tourism and property links.

“I think there are a lot of natural fits (for an opponent),” Koch told AFL 360.

“The Western Australian teams, with the mining and resource links to China. The Queensland teams, with tourism and property development. And Sydney with property development.

“It’s up the AFL Commission to decide on that. We’ve got our preferred partners. We think it will be exciting for other clubs to be able to leverage what we’ve done over the past couple of years ... to help their club.”

Koch said he was hopeful the AFL could create a niche Chinese audience that would grow to love the game and travel to Australia to watch it.

“When we go to America on holidays, we want to go to an NBA game because that’s America’s sport,” he said.

“It’s a cultural experience. Imagine if we could tap into a tiny amount of the one and a half million Chinese tourists that visit Australia every year and get that same enthusiasm from them.

“This is how you innovate, how you take the game forward, by taking chances.”

The plan which Port Adelaide will table to the AFL Commission is mutli-faceted and hinges upon not only selling the AFL game but the byproducts that go with it.

The Power’s audacious push into China has been mounting since it recruited Chinese player Chen Shaoliang on an international scholarship earlier this year, with the club reaching an agreement with the China Central Television network to broadcast two Power games this season.

On Thursday morning, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the last component of the expansion plan from Shanghai.

While the AFL is yet to determine the venue for the match, it is expected that Port Adelaide will play the match for premiership points during the bye weekend.

When asked why his club were unwilling to forfeit a home game, Koch said Port Adelaide were contractually obliged to play all of their home games at the Adelaide Oval.

“It will be another team’s home game,” he said.

“But the advantage for them is that they’ll be properly compensated and will be able to leverage off the back of all the work we’ve done in China to broaden their commercial appeal to Chinese interests as well.”

AFL Tonight (Fox Footy)

JOSH Gibson says he’s keen to play on in 2017, after starting off the season in career-best form that belies his veteran status.

At 32, Gibson keeps getting better with age. Not only did he win Hawthorn’s best and fairest last season, but he amassed a career-high 44 possessions in the grand final replay two weeks ago.

And he doesn’t plan on hanging up the boots anytime soon.

“Yeah, I’m keen to play on,” he told AFL Tonight.

“The body is feeling good. I’m sure we’ll be working through (contract talks) as the season goes on. It’s only early.

“I’m aware I’m one of the older blokes and I’m probably at the back of the pecking order when it comes to contract time. But I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”

Gibson’s prolific ball winning has in part stemmed from his modified role this season. He has pushed higher up the ground, straying from the goalkeeper role he has traditionally played at Hawthorn.

“We’ve got some guys down back that are really doing well on the talls,” Gibson said.

“(Ben Stratton) did a fantastic job on a key position player on the weekend, so if that frees me to get a bit higher at times that’s good.”

Gibson said he was delighted to see his former teammate Lance Franklin back to his enthralling best, as he battles an ongoing mental illness.

Franklin has booted four goals in three consecutive games, to trail only Tom Lynch (Gold Coast) in the race for the Coleman Medal.

“We speak from time to time and he’s really happy that he’s playing footy again, which I think is really good,” Gibson said.

“Everyone enjoys seeing Bud on the field. He’s come out firing this year, he’s hitting the packs hard and finishing off his good work.

“It’s great for the game to see him back out there playing.”