No-fear Richmond defender Steven Morris is Tom Hafey's favourite player Glenn McFarlane
From: Herald Sun
July 21, 2013STEVEN Morris might never be afforded the attention or accolades of higher-profile teammates, but the hard-working, hard-edged Richmond defender has something the others haven't.
He is Tom Hafey's favourite Tiger from the current team, and it's not hard to understand why.
Leaving aside the connection Hafey has had with the Morris family for more than four decades, the four-time Richmond premiership coach loves nothing more than watching a player who flings himself at the ball as if his life depended upon it.
Or one who is prepared to do everything he can to extract the best out of his himself.
Morris fits the bill on both fronts after 35 games in a season and a half wearing yellow and black.
He might not be the "back-pocket plumber'' that Hafey once famously dubbed Kevin Sheedy, but he possesses more than a hint of blue-collar work ethic which brings a glint to the eye of the man who coached his father, Kevin Morris, to two flags and a best-and-fairest with Richmond, before a later stint at Collingwood.
"He is completely fearless,'' Hafey said of Steven Morris. "He probably does a lot of things that don't show up on the stats sheet, but people at the club just love him and he makes his teammates come on stronger.
"He is just a heart and soul player. You know what you are going to get from him, 120 minutes of hard and tough footy.
"He is a great footy story - a kid who never gave up.''
The kid who never gave up is now 24 and reaping the rewards of his single-minded determination to play AFL football.
That had been sorely tested when, by his own admission, his heart was broken when he was overlooked in the 2007 rookie draft after training with Richmond, Collingwood, Essendon and Melbourne.
He followed the draft on his computer and when the Demons chose Shane Valenti with their last pick, Morris was devastated.
He left his parents' 40-acre farm at Toolern Vale, 40km north-west of Melbourne, and went to South Australia to try his luck with SANFL club West Adelaide - the side his father had coached years earlier.
In his first game there he tangled with another Victorian kid - his current teammate Ivan Maric - but Morris's career took a further cruel twist the following year when he suffered a serious knee injury, requiring a reconstruction.
The easy option would have been to give up and return home. But he stayed, worked on his rehabilitation and balanced it with a personal training business. By the end of 2011 he won his club's best-and-fairest and, finally, the AFL beckoned.
Of all clubs, it was Richmond who came calling, beating an interested Port Adelaide, to secure a trade deal for him.
Morris even got to wear his father's No.38 jumper - "It had always been a dream to wear my dad's number'' - and it was appropriate that Kevin presented his son and three other Tiger debutants - Maric included - with their guernseys before the Round 1 match against Carlton last year.
If it hadn't been for the pitfalls that Morris had experienced on his path to Punt Rd, he knows he might not be the player or the person that he is now.
"I think the fact that I have had to work so hard for it has probably held me in good stead,'' Morris said on the eve of today's crunch match with Fremantle.
"I have always wanted to get the best out of myself and give myself the best opportunity to succeed. I feel like I am doing that at the moment.
"I don't take things for granted. That's how I prepare to play and how I go out on the weekends to give it my best shot.''
Morris has made a sizeable impression at the club in a relatively short time, evidenced by the regard his teammates and coach Damien Hardwick have for him.
Part of it stems from his fanatical attack on the ball, something that clearly resonates with Hardwick - another one-time hard-edged defender who had to overcome adversity.
Teammate Brett Deledio explained recently: "I love playing in the side with Stevie ... he throws himself into every contest.''
And in one of his weekly emails to members, Hardwick recently used a smother Morris laid as an example of the sort of commitment required to win games.
That faith between player and coach was evident when Hardwick chose him to play on Carlton forward Eddie Betts in Round 1 last season - Morris's first game. It didn't faze him, despite the fact that the 78,285 fans in attendance happened to be about 74,000 more than the previous biggest crowd he had played in front of.
By the end of the year, Morris had established himself to the point where he finished seventh in the club best-and-fairest.
"I really enjoy playing on the best players,'' the Tiger says. "I enjoy playing on Eddie Betts when we play Carlton.
"I love playing Hawthorn and setting myself for Cyril Rioli. Or Hayden Ballantyne at Freo or Steven Milne if it is St Kilda.
"I know how good those players are and how important my role is to the team.
"I don't go out there to do anything but play my role within the team. I think we've improved as a team because we all know we have to play our roles.''
With Ballantyne out with a hamstring injury, Morris is likely to come up against Michael Walters tomorrow.
The one certainty is his pre-game routine won't change.
As part of his preparation he watched the Dockers in their derby clash with West Coast last Sunday on television, then spent time during the week speaking with Tigers' list manager Blair Hartley and to opposition analyst Nick Austin.
He eats three hot-cross buns leading into the match - one with three hours to go, another with two hours to go and the last one hour beforehand. If the hot-cross buns are out of season, he settles for a fruit bun.
Morris believes his attention to detail regarding his preparation has assisted him in making his mark on the AFL.
"I am pretty methodical. I like to have a routine,'' he said.
So far, it is working. He has had only 12 goals kicked on him in his 14 games this season. And while his possession rate is down a little this year - at a tick under 10 per game - his use of the ball has improved significantly.
He hopes 2013 might end with what could be his first AFL finals appearance - and the club's first since 2001.
"We've still got a lot of improvement left in us as a team,'' he said.
"At the moment we are only looking at this week's game. We can't afford to look too far ahead.
"But you would be lying if you said that you didn't think about playing in finals, and if you didn't think about one day winning a premiership. Everyone does.''
Part of Morris' strength lies in his genes, with his father playing more than 180 VFL games for two clubs before assistant coaching stints at a number of AFL clubs and a senior role in the SANFL.
What is less well known is that his mother, Jan, represented Australia in basketball.
Had it not been for the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, she would have been an Olympian, though she did represent her country at the world championships.
"She would have made a great centre half-back,'' Hafey recalled.
"So Steven gets it from both sides.''
Morris attacks the ball with a fervour that his father did, and that coaches love.
But that passion cost him a week on the sidelines earlier this year when he was suspended for rough conduct on Collingwood's Jamie Elliott.
Morris doesn't want to create controversy, but he believes fair bumps should remain part of the game, and that the sliding rule remains a tough one for players.
"I'm a ball player, but I just reckon we all love to see the contested nature of the game,'' he said. "As long as there is no malice in things, I think it is fair to go hard at the ball. If there is (malice), then the AFL should rightly come down hard on you.''
Morris was unaware of the regard Hafey had for him as a player, but was pleased that the legend approves of his approach to the game.
"I've known Tommy and Maureen (Hafey's wife) for years,'' he said. "I spoke to him earlier in the year when I was keen for him to come down and speak to our young kids about what Richmond was like when the club was so successful.
"He was fantastic. It is hard not to be inspired by someone who talks with such a passion for what we are buying into.
"Tommy often rings Dad and sometimes I answer the phone. I ask how he is, and Tommy always says the same thing - 'I'm good and I'm getting better'.''
It could be said the same applies to Steven Morris' football career.
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