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As a youngster on the Kogarah Jubilee Hill, my favourite player was the live-wire half back turned winger Steve Morris. A legend of the club, he played 180 games, scoring 102 tries using his scintillating speed and elusiveness which earned him the nickname ‘Slippery’.
His twin sons, Josh and Brett, have inherited his speed and try-scoring abilities, but tower over their father and outweigh him by 20 kilograms. After his football career, Steve returned to the Illawarra, from where he had previously represented Australia – the last country player to do so.
His sons came up through the grades at the newly merged identity St George Illawarra, playing in the 2005 Jersey Flegg-winning side. Unfortunately Josh was made to move on when Wayne Bennett arrived, going to the Bulldogs where he has competed in two grand finals.
Brett has become one of the top wingers in the game, representing the Blues 10 times and the Kangaroos 18, along with winning a premiership in 2010.
If media reports are to be believed it appears that Brett will be reunited with his twin at cross-town rivals the Bulldogs. As a Dragons fan it’s a shame to lose one of the game’s elite wingers, who has crossed the line 112 times in 169 games – especially given his connection with the club as a local junior and his father’s legacy.
However, it is my belief that it might be what is best for both the Dragons and Brett. Penrith have definitely prospered recently after moving on local legends Luke Lewis and Michael Jennings. The move has been beneficial to the players as well, especially Jennings, who won his first premiership last year with the Roosters.
After nine seasons in first grade and a premiership under his belt, Brett would have to be close to the highest paid winger in the game. Fellow winger and Kiwi representative Jason Nightingale is also well into a decorated career and would be on good money.
When the Dragons won in 2010, both players would have been on considerably less.
Winning a premiership in the NRL is highly reliant on salary cap management. No club has been able to repeat since the 1992-93 Broncos, mainly as it’s virtually impossible to keep a squad intact once contracts are upgraded after winning the premiership. Premierships are generally won by representative halves, a gun fullback and a dominant forward pack.
After the Dragons won the title in 2010 with up-and-coming wingers Morris and Nightingale, the wingers of the premiership sides have been: Will Hopoate and Michael Robertson at Manly (2011), Sisa Waqa and Justin O’Neil at Melbourne (2012), Daniel Tupou and Roger Tuivasa-Scheck with the Roosters (2013) and Alex Johnston and Lote Tuqiri this season with South Sydney.
All excellent wingers, but none would have been on big money, with the majority of them being rookies or, in the case of Tuqiri, at the end of their career and unable to demand the money that they did a decade ago. The majority of the salary cap would have been spent on players in spine positions or in the forwards.
In the last year the Dragons have outlaid large money for players in these key positions. The signings of halves Gareth Widdop and Benji Marshall as well as fullback Josh Dugan has the left the Dragons seriously undermanned in the forwards. The Dragons have apparently been in the market for every big bopper that became available this year and to be able to afford one, some cap space needs to be found.
Unfortunately it looks like that Brett Morris and possibly Nightingale are going to be the players let go and replaced by cheaper players, such as recent signing Eto Nabuli from Penrith.
There are plenty of other players that Dragons fans would rather see go but unfortunately those players are less attractive to other clubs and release less of the salary cap pressure. It’s highly unlikely that the Bulldogs are paying big money for Brett to play on the wing, with a move to the vital custodian role most likely.
The Bulldogs would be the only side that made the top eight over the last two years without an elite fullback and are prepared to offer $600,000 for Brett to be that man.
I’ll miss seeing Brett Morris flying down the wing or leaping high in the air to score for the Dragons. However, it seems to be an essential move for the club given salary cap constraints and the relative value of wingers in the cap.
Recent history shows you cannot win a premiership with high priced wingers. Hopefully it will allow the Dragons to sign some more muscle up front to assist the big money spine of Dugan, Benji and Widdop.
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