Shinboner number: 237
Guernsey numbers: 29, 24, 26, 27
Born: November 23, 1917
Died: May 29, 1992
North Melbourne games: 121 (1937-44, 1948)
Goals: 411
North Melbourne Hall of Fame inductee: 2026

Norman Selwyn ‘Sel’ Murray was one of North Melbourne’s finest forwards, averaging 3.8 goals per game throughout his 108 matches from 1937-44 and in 1948. Despite never playing in a final, the left-footed Murray - recruited from nearby West Melbourne - gave North supporters a reason to go to the footy, kicking five goals or more on 38 separate occasions.

He led the League’s goalkicking table in 1941 (88 goals during the regular season, a club record that lasted until 1974. After finals, however, Melbourne’s Norm Smith had reached 89 goals), and topped North’s list every year between 1938 and 1942. He also represented Victoria against South Australia in 1939 and 1941, kicking six goals in each appearance.

A superb overhead mark, it was claimed that Murray was so accurate in front of goal he was more reliable than Collingwood’s goalkicking machine of the era, Ron Todd. High praise indeed, as Todd would go on to kick 999 goals for the Magpies and then Williamstown in the VFA.

Murray crossed to Richmond in 1945, where he played a further 13 games and kicked 50 goals. He then returned to Arden Street in 1947, kicking 123 goals in a seconds side which claimed the club’s first senior VFL premiership (the club had won the under-19s flag in 1946).

In one last hurrah, Murray played six more VFL games in 1948 and kicked nine goals, taking his career total to 461 goals in 121 games.