I'll learn from mistakes: MorrisBy Paul Daffey
Tue 24 Apr, 2012RICHMOND defender Steven Morris says he'll learn from the mistakes he made in the last quarter of Geelong's victory over the Tigers at Simonds Stadium on Sunday.
Halfway through the last quarter Morris was opposed to Allen Christensen when Christensen gave him the slip to rove a pack. The small forward's resultant goal put the Cats eight points ahead.
In the last 10 minutes a Morris was at half-back and had a series of teammates in attacking positions ahead of him when he tried to handball over premiership midfielder Joel Corey.
Corey, however, smothered the handball and wrested the advantage back to the Cats.
Geelong took advantage of a series of desperate acts by champion veterans such as Corey and Jimmy Bartel to seal a 10-point victory.
Morris, who was playing only his fourth AFL game, said he should have stayed closer to Christensen.
"I could have bodied him up and kept him away from the ball," he said.
"You don't get everything right. You learn from those mistakes."
Of his handball, Morris said: "It doesn't make you feel too great when you're the one who's responsible for a scoring opportunity for the opposition.
"I've just got to go out and keep backing myself and backing my teammates."
Richmond 19-year-old Reece Conca, who is in his second year at AFL level, also had a handball smothered in the final minutes of a match in which Geelong's experience told.
The Cats now have won their past eight games against Richmond and have also won 15 of their past 16 matches against the Tigers.
"We were right in the game," Morris said. "It was there for the taking in the last quarter.
"We just let it slip a little bit. It was really disappointing."
Morris, 23, has shown a kamikaze-like attack on the football during the Tigers' opening four games, which have included losses to premiership fancies Carlton and Collingwood and a victory over Melbourne.
He had only nine disposals in the opening match against Carlton but followed up with 21 disposals against Collingwood. He had 17 against Geelong.
"It's not all about disposals. It's defensive acts," Morris said.
"I feel I'm reasonable defensively, but there's definitely aspects of my game I can improve.
"Offensively, it's about making better decisions when I've got the ball."
Morris missed out on being drafted after playing with TAC Cup club Western Jets.
He then battled at SANFL club West Adelaide for four years before Richmond picked him up before last year's NAB AFL National Draft from Greater Western Sydney, where he was a pre-listed player.
GWS traded him to Richmond's No.14 pick. The Tigers in turn got GWS's No. 15 pick, meaning Richmond dropped only one draft place to get Morris.
GWS took Devon Smith at No. 14 and Richmond Brandon Ellis at 15.
After such a long battle to reach the top level, Morris said he's enjoying his football like never before.
"We haven't won as many games as I would have liked but it’s been an amazing experience," he said.
"It sure is a good feeling to hear the Tiger Army behind you when do something that underlines our values as a footy club.
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