The Western Bulldogs knew weeks ago that Hawthorn would be their opponent in the first week of the finals, but took poor form in against the red hot Hawks and paid the price.
But Murphy – who until Friday night was the player with most AFL games under his belt without playing finals – said the team had earned the right to be playing the Sydney Swans in the second week of the finals.
"It was really disappointing – I'd waited so long, and it was a disappointing night in front of a lot of people," he said.
"The lucky thing is we get another chance seven days later, which, considering it could have been a year, is pretty lucky.
"The season's a marathon, and we put in the performances for most of the year, so we've earned another crack at it.
"But come Friday night, it's do or die."
Murphy said the side was happy with the style of football it wanted to play.
"The margin at the finish was probably the most disappointing thing, but you could throw a blanket over how many areas of disappointment there were, but it's gone now, what do you do?
"You get back on the horse and have a crack at Sydney this week.
"Whenever you get belted like that in a final, I think that's only natural that people are going to question. But within the footy club, when we're playing the way we want, we think we can mix it with anyone.
"But we didn't show it on Friday night."
Murphy said the side had reviewed the match as they had every other game throughout the season.
"It's all about being consistent the whole way through -- and what we've worked on for 12 months, and the things we've put in place -- so we haven't changed anything."
