Like so many aspiring youngsters, Jai Murray was a multi-talented sportsman. But he was a little different. He had to choose between not two sports but three.

In summer he was a surf lifesaver at North Burleigh Surf Club and good enough to win a state junior board title. And in winter he split his time between AFL and rugby league, and won rave reviews in both codes.

The surf club was like a second home not just to young Jai but father Mike, a one-time world surf ski champion and Coolangatta Gold competitor, and mother Lara, described in 2018 as ‘once the face of Surf Life Saving Queensland’.

But the surf was never going to be a career thing. The real quandary for sandy-haired Murray was that both codes of football had the potential to be a long-term prospect.

As a sports-mad 10-year-old in 2017 he had to make an agonising choice between a junior AFL grand final with the Burleigh Bombers and a junior rugby league grand final with the Tugun Seahawks when both fell on the same day. He chose rugby league.

At 12 he travelled to Perth on AFL duty, noting “there was no opportunity to do that in rugby league at the time – and travelling for football was amazing."

He has said often how he loves the 360-degree nature of AFL but as recently as February last year admitted: “I was rugby league first as a kid, from Under 12s to probably Under 14s. Then I started really getting into my footy. I probably started loving the game and really getting into it in Under 16s.”

Those comments were in an interview with ‘Rookie Central’ in the early lead-up to the 2025 AFL National Draft, where in November last year he was one of five members of the StreetSmarts SUNS Academy drafted by the SUNS.

Murray, who won All-Australian selection at Under 15 and Under 16 level, was claimed at pick #17 when the SUNS matched a bid from the West Coast Eagles.

This was after they’d already taken Zeke Uwland at #2 and Dylan Patterson at #5, and before they added Beau Addinsall at #18 and Koby Coulson at #46 in what was an overwhelming commendation for the impact of the StreetSmarts SUNS Academy.

Why AFL? “I guess my mates were more into footy. I still juggled both but I’d say my footy mates really got me into it and they dragged me down to the club more and more and more, so I just started getting more in love with it really,” he explained.

Now SUNS fans will have their chance to fall in love with Murray, who will make his AFL debut in QClash #30 against the Brisbane Lions at People First Stadium on Saturday (5.15pm).

Murray is a 187cm running wingman or half-back who, according to the scouts, “is one of those players who always seems to have more time than everyone else."

He’s overcome an injury-delayed start to the season to force his way into the AFL side on the back of five games in the VFL in rounds 4-5-6-8-9. He’s averaged 27.8 possessions, 5.6 clearances and 3.6 tackles, and had 41 possessions in a losing side against the GWS Giants at People First Stadium on 3 May.

Remarkably, Murray will be one of five Burleigh juniors in the SUNS side on Saturday, joining Bodhi and Zeke Uwland, Leo Lombard and Lachie Gulbin. And that’s without Addinsall, who is also knocking at the selection door.

It will be a special occasion for the Burleigh Bombers vice-president Stuart Harrison, who coached all except Bodhi Uwland.

“He (Murray) is an outstanding young man … an unconditionally nice person from a quality family and a ferocious footballer who deserves all that he gets,” said Harrison.

“From a very early age he (Murray) had something about him, and he was always prepared to do the extra work. As a junior club we see it as our role to develop players for higher honours, and it’s gratifying to see these kids live their football dream.”

Harrison, who played with Dandenong in the VFA after a trial at St Kilda and is a self-confessed football addict, is known for his ‘vacant block games’ adjacent to his home on Acanthus Ave at Burleigh.

"They are primarily handball games but they can get pretty rugged" he said.

Harrison, who has won international recognition for his underground tunnelling business, remembers a time two years ago when Murray clashed with Lombard, who is six months older.

“Leo put him on his bum and I was about to go and break things up when his dad, who was standing next to me, intervened. He said ‘let him work it out himself’ and he did. And he’s been doing it ever since.”

Murray also worked closely with Queensland-based Olympic coach and former Australian track and field athlete Brett Robinson for the past four years, developing his speed and ability to drive from the contest, which has become an early trademark.

Yet another product of Palm Beach-Currumbin High School, Murray will be player #159 on the all-time SUNS list and the 13th to debut in a Q-Clash after Tom Lynch, Sam Day, Joey Daye (Q-Clash #1), Louis Herbert (8), Josh Glenn, Henry Schade (9), Jack Bowes, Ben Ainsworth (13), Josh Corbett (17), Caleb Graham (18), Malcolm Rosas (20) and Elijah Holland (23).

He’ll be just the third SUNS player to wear jumper #35 after Michael Rischitelli and Connor Budarick.

But there are plenty on the coast who say he won’t be the only member of the family to wear SUNS colours, with younger brother Taj already on the radar ahead of the 2027 draft.