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The A-List: Brett Morris (St George Illawarra, Country, NSW & Australia)
July 2, 2013 By therealsteavis Leave a Comment
By STEVE MASCORD
THERE are many things we assume as kids about football; things that we just as easily dismiss out-of-hand as adults.
Swapping footy cards at play lunch, we assume all players on our favourite team are best buddies. We believe unquestioningly they all respect and support the coach. And we are completely sure they love their teams jersey as much as the one hanging up in our wardrobe.
Maybe they even sleep in it.
As bitter grown-ups, we hold these ideas to be self-evidently nonsense. Team-mates feud, coaches are the victims of mutinies and mercenaries go to the highest bidder.
Its symbolic, then, that we encounter St George Illawarra, NSW and Australia winger Brett Morris straight after hes been studying for an exam. He and a group of team-mates have gone back to school at the instigation of Ben Creagh, with the aim of entering life after football armed with a degree.
Its been a long time since I went to school so the brain hurts from thinking too long, says Morris, taking a seat next to the makeshift classroom in the southern stand at WIN Stadium.
Morris plays for the club and region which made his father Steve famous. Slippery Morris was the last man to represent Australia from a NSW country club, Dapto, in 1978 and became an icon when he joined St George the following year.
While brother Josh has moved on to Canterbury, Brett still turns out for the club he supported as a kid. At the Dragons, he says, you get to stay around all your mates and Ive been in footy my whole life.
Just like you imagined as a tin lid. The coach, at one time under-pressure Steve Price? Priceys got a lot of respect from all the players here. Hes coached a lot of the fellas coming up through the grades and we know what sort of coach he is and we really enjoy him as a coach.
Youre starting to reconsider your stances on Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, right? Surely theres a big difference cheering for a team as youngster and wearing the jersey for real, with all the politics and hurdles and competitiveness of professional sport. Surely the romance wanes?
Brett Morris looks me right in the eye. I still love this club. Ill always love this club. This has been a big part of my family, with the old boy playing here.
Ive followed them my whole life and then to actually play in the red V I still grab the jersey every game and look at the red V and Im very proud to put the jersey on, thats for sure.
There is no nervous laugh at the end of that. No irony or acting. Hes serious. Professional sports may be a business but its a lot more than that to B Morris.
But its easy to think of Brett and his brother Josh as still being kids. They even had a play-fight when their Dragons and Bulldogs team-mates got into it for real a couple of years ago. Aside from a scar near Bretts eye, not even their NSW team-mates can tell them apart.
But Origins not for kids as weve been reading repeatedly since the last one and tonight the brothers go into battle with the very mature aim of helping end Queenslands seven years of dominance.
In previous years, weve probably been guilty of talking about Queensland probably too much and not worrying about us, says Brett, by common consensus the less talkative of the twins.
Our focus was solely on us (in Origin). You still do the video sessions and what-not that you have to do on the other team but we had a lot of focus on what we needed to do and a lot of belief. The way we started that first half was pretty evident of the self-belief we had in the team.
The game is just getting faster and faster and thats just something that youve got to deal with. Origin I think a lot of people say that theres different rules and its just putting your body on the line and not worrying about anything else.
So what about revenge, not being bullied, Nate Myles and all that?
It wasnt a massive thing but obviously we spoke about it. I think in the past weve probably been a bit timid and taken a backward step. I think we sort of made a group decisions that we werent going to take anything, any of their stuff that they were tried to do, and if they got up in our face, we were going to get back in their face. Thats just the way we wanted to play.
We talked about their whole team. It wasnt just one bloke. Its an Origin. You cant just prepare for one bloke. Youve got to prepare for the full 17 and we certainly did that.
Tonight there will be a couple of a new Blues and, league officials are hoping, no blues. One of them is Josh Dugan, who if he re-signs with the joint venture club as expected will hammer the final nail into the coffin marked Brett Morris Fullback Experiment.
My days at fullback are done and dusted! Brett says with a smile. Its one of the toughest positions on the field. The amount of running that you have to do and then youre expected to be a second half sometimes as well its a role thats changed over the years I think Duges is in some great form at the moment.
I did enjoy it. I knew it wasnt going to be long term thats probably why I did. It was one those positions where you get a lot more freedom than you do on the wing.
But youve got to play there for a couple of years before you see the real benefits of being a fullback. If you watched a lot of guys early in their careers even Billy Slater when he started youre just picking up different aspects of the game over three or four years before he was exceptional at all parts of the game.
Bretts a family man now, doesnt stress about football as much as he used to, looks forward to having his weekends back when he retires and is hoping to team up with Josh in green and gold with Australia in the World Cup.
Like wearing the red and white, respecting the coach and being buddies with your team-mates, Bretts love of playing with his brother is every bit as deep as it was when they were kids down Kiama way.
Every rep game we play is special because we dont know how many games were going to get to play together, especially if were at different clubs our whole career, Brett says.
Which brings us to THOSE rumours, about the brothers being reunited in red and white.
Hes a man of his word, B Moz says.
Hes signed a contract with the Bulldogs and hes going to honour his contract. Hes his own man now and hes got his own decisions that he likes to make.
Blokes on the street just make up stories and they spread. Ive heard it from his mouth. Hes quite happy where he is.
OK, lets try this in reverse. Would Brett Morris, he of the red and white paraphernalia for almost as long as he has been able to walk and talk, ever play for another club?
No.
Im not going to say never but theres not much of a chance for me. Put it this way, I wouldnt play for another club in the NRL.
I love this club and I dont think Id be doing this club justice if I went and played for another club.
With that, he picks up his schoolbag and is off. Id like to think hes heading for the bustop.
Filed for: RUGBY LEAGUE WEEK
http://stevemascord.com/2013/07/02/the-a-list-brett-morris-st-george-illawarra-country-nsw-australia/
July 2, 2013 By therealsteavis Leave a Comment
By STEVE MASCORDTHERE are many things we assume as kids about football; things that we just as easily dismiss out-of-hand as adults.
Swapping footy cards at play lunch, we assume all players on our favourite team are best buddies. We believe unquestioningly they all respect and support the coach. And we are completely sure they love their teams jersey as much as the one hanging up in our wardrobe.
Maybe they even sleep in it.
As bitter grown-ups, we hold these ideas to be self-evidently nonsense. Team-mates feud, coaches are the victims of mutinies and mercenaries go to the highest bidder.
Its symbolic, then, that we encounter St George Illawarra, NSW and Australia winger Brett Morris straight after hes been studying for an exam. He and a group of team-mates have gone back to school at the instigation of Ben Creagh, with the aim of entering life after football armed with a degree.
Its been a long time since I went to school so the brain hurts from thinking too long, says Morris, taking a seat next to the makeshift classroom in the southern stand at WIN Stadium.
Morris plays for the club and region which made his father Steve famous. Slippery Morris was the last man to represent Australia from a NSW country club, Dapto, in 1978 and became an icon when he joined St George the following year.
While brother Josh has moved on to Canterbury, Brett still turns out for the club he supported as a kid. At the Dragons, he says, you get to stay around all your mates and Ive been in footy my whole life.
Just like you imagined as a tin lid. The coach, at one time under-pressure Steve Price? Priceys got a lot of respect from all the players here. Hes coached a lot of the fellas coming up through the grades and we know what sort of coach he is and we really enjoy him as a coach.
Youre starting to reconsider your stances on Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, right? Surely theres a big difference cheering for a team as youngster and wearing the jersey for real, with all the politics and hurdles and competitiveness of professional sport. Surely the romance wanes?
Brett Morris looks me right in the eye. I still love this club. Ill always love this club. This has been a big part of my family, with the old boy playing here.
Ive followed them my whole life and then to actually play in the red V I still grab the jersey every game and look at the red V and Im very proud to put the jersey on, thats for sure.
There is no nervous laugh at the end of that. No irony or acting. Hes serious. Professional sports may be a business but its a lot more than that to B Morris.
But its easy to think of Brett and his brother Josh as still being kids. They even had a play-fight when their Dragons and Bulldogs team-mates got into it for real a couple of years ago. Aside from a scar near Bretts eye, not even their NSW team-mates can tell them apart.
But Origins not for kids as weve been reading repeatedly since the last one and tonight the brothers go into battle with the very mature aim of helping end Queenslands seven years of dominance.
In previous years, weve probably been guilty of talking about Queensland probably too much and not worrying about us, says Brett, by common consensus the less talkative of the twins.
Our focus was solely on us (in Origin). You still do the video sessions and what-not that you have to do on the other team but we had a lot of focus on what we needed to do and a lot of belief. The way we started that first half was pretty evident of the self-belief we had in the team.
The game is just getting faster and faster and thats just something that youve got to deal with. Origin I think a lot of people say that theres different rules and its just putting your body on the line and not worrying about anything else.
So what about revenge, not being bullied, Nate Myles and all that?
It wasnt a massive thing but obviously we spoke about it. I think in the past weve probably been a bit timid and taken a backward step. I think we sort of made a group decisions that we werent going to take anything, any of their stuff that they were tried to do, and if they got up in our face, we were going to get back in their face. Thats just the way we wanted to play.
We talked about their whole team. It wasnt just one bloke. Its an Origin. You cant just prepare for one bloke. Youve got to prepare for the full 17 and we certainly did that.
Tonight there will be a couple of a new Blues and, league officials are hoping, no blues. One of them is Josh Dugan, who if he re-signs with the joint venture club as expected will hammer the final nail into the coffin marked Brett Morris Fullback Experiment.
My days at fullback are done and dusted! Brett says with a smile. Its one of the toughest positions on the field. The amount of running that you have to do and then youre expected to be a second half sometimes as well its a role thats changed over the years I think Duges is in some great form at the moment.
I did enjoy it. I knew it wasnt going to be long term thats probably why I did. It was one those positions where you get a lot more freedom than you do on the wing.
But youve got to play there for a couple of years before you see the real benefits of being a fullback. If you watched a lot of guys early in their careers even Billy Slater when he started youre just picking up different aspects of the game over three or four years before he was exceptional at all parts of the game.
Bretts a family man now, doesnt stress about football as much as he used to, looks forward to having his weekends back when he retires and is hoping to team up with Josh in green and gold with Australia in the World Cup.
Like wearing the red and white, respecting the coach and being buddies with your team-mates, Bretts love of playing with his brother is every bit as deep as it was when they were kids down Kiama way.
Every rep game we play is special because we dont know how many games were going to get to play together, especially if were at different clubs our whole career, Brett says.
Which brings us to THOSE rumours, about the brothers being reunited in red and white.
Hes a man of his word, B Moz says.
Hes signed a contract with the Bulldogs and hes going to honour his contract. Hes his own man now and hes got his own decisions that he likes to make.
Blokes on the street just make up stories and they spread. Ive heard it from his mouth. Hes quite happy where he is.
OK, lets try this in reverse. Would Brett Morris, he of the red and white paraphernalia for almost as long as he has been able to walk and talk, ever play for another club?
No.
Im not going to say never but theres not much of a chance for me. Put it this way, I wouldnt play for another club in the NRL.
I love this club and I dont think Id be doing this club justice if I went and played for another club.
With that, he picks up his schoolbag and is off. Id like to think hes heading for the bustop.
Filed for: RUGBY LEAGUE WEEK
http://stevemascord.com/2013/07/02/the-a-list-brett-morris-st-george-illawarra-country-nsw-australia/
