Steven Morris [merged]

[Judge Roughneck]

Death wish crazy style 

[one-eyed]

Morris the miser
afl.com.au
Friday, August 23, 2013

IS THERE a better defensive small backman in the AFL than Richmond's Steven Morris?
 
Three-time Hawthorn premiership defender Andrew Collins doubts it.
 
Collins is well qualified to talk on the subject having been one of the tightest-checking small defenders of the late 1980s and 1990s. The Hawks regarded him so highly that in 1991 they gave him the No.5 jumper that had been 'retired' since club icon Peter Crimmins' death in 1976.

Collins was also Morris' coach at West Adelaide for 2008-11 and oversaw his transformation from a midfielder into a small defender via a brief stint as a defensive forward.
 
Having seen Collins' fierce competitive streak and unflagging discipline up close for so long, and having followed his career at Richmond closely, Collins can't think of a better defensive small defender in the AFL right now.
 
"Surely the primary role of a defender is to nullify your opponent," Collins told AFL.com.au.
 
"I imagine Damien (Hardwick) just sits back and thinks that with Steve Morris in his team the opposition's best small forward won't have an avenue to goal today.
 
"So whether it's Cyril Rioli, whether it's Eddie Betts or whoever, Damien must take comfort knowing Stevie will fight for him and, more often than not, take out his opponent."
 
Champion Data statistics support Collins' lofty rating of Morris. Out of a sample of 16 of the competition's best small/medium defenders, Morris ranks second this season for goals conceded a game, with 0.79.
 
Only Geelong's Corey Enright has been stingier (conceding 0.68 goals a game) but the Cats often send Cameron Guthrie to the opposition's most dangerous small forward, while trying to free up playmakers like Enright and Jimmy Bartel.
 
Enright is also often manned by defensive forwards more intent on limiting his influence than kicking goals.
 
St Kilda's Jarryn Geary (0.58 goals a game) and Western Bulldog Liam Picken (0.72 goals) have also conceded fewer goals than Morris, but they are among a group of small backmen who divide their time between defence and run-with roles in the midfield.
 
In the 19 games he has played this season – just his second in the AFL – Morris has kept his opponent goalless seven times. Those 'victims' have included elite goalsneaks such as Rioli (round 19), Betts (round 21), West Coast's Mark LeCras  (round 10) and Geelong's Steven Motlop (round six).
 
Morris, 185cm, has conceded multiple goals just twice this year, both times against St Kilda, two in round two (Stephen Milne and Ahmed Saad one each) and three in round 14 (Trent Dennis-Lane two and Brodie Murdoch one).
 
When Morris missed his only game this season, through suspension in round six, Richmond lost to Fremantle by one point after Freo small forwards Hayden Ballantyne and Michael Walters kicked four and two goals respectively.
 
It's a season that should put the 24-year-old son of two-time Richmond premiership player Kevin Morris firmly in contention for All-Australian selection.
 
But, ironically, Morris' supreme defensive focus could count against him come selection time.
 
Keeping elite small forwards quiet is a demanding job and it's meant Morris' average possession count has dipped from almost 16 possessions a game in 2012 to 9.8 this year.
 
Traditionally, the All-Australian selectors have preferred more attacking defenders and Nick Malceski, Enright, Pearce Hanley, Andrew Walker and Adam Cooney all fit that bill this season.
 
It's also not uncommon for star midfielders to be squeezed into the team through unfamiliar roles across half-back.
 
But Collins says there is a place for old-fashioned, hard-checking defenders like Morris in the All-Australian team.
 
"The All-Australian selectors normally choose the full-back who has had the least goals scored against him and you should probably choose your first small defender with that same principle," Collins says.
 
"Most opposition teams have small forwards just as dangerous as their key forwards, so you should chose a negating defender as part of a balanced team.
 
"Stevie is so disciplined and adheres so closely to team instructions that he allows others the glory.
 
"He's such a selfless young man and plays with a very anti-social attitude. He uses legal, strong defensive tactics to stop his opponent and there are very few guys that can score against him."

SMALL/MEDIUM DEFENDERS 'REVERSE COLEMAN MEDAL'

PLAYER    GAMES    GOALS CONCEDED    AVG
Corey Enright (Geel)    19    13    0.68
Steven Morris (Rich)    19    15    0.79
Cameron O'Shea (PA)    20    17    0.85
Heath Shaw (Coll)    17    16    0.94
Shaun Atley (NM)    20    21    1.05
Lynden Dunn (Melb)    16    18    1.13
Sam Butler (WC)    13    15    1.15
Brent Guerra (Haw)    15    18    1.20
Mark Baguley (Ess)    19    24    1.26
Nick Smith (Syd)    20    26    1.30
Cameron Guthrie (Geel)    16    21    1.31
Sean Dempster (StK)    17    24    1.41
Zach Tuohy (Carl)    20    31    1.55
Adam Kennedy (GWS)    17    27    1.59
Dean Terlich (Melb)    18    34    1.89
Alan Toovey (Coll)    5    10    2.00

PLAYED SOME GAMES IN MIDFIELD

PLAYER    GAMES    GOALS CONCEDED    AVG
Jarryn Geary (StK)    19    11    0.58
Liam Picken (WB)    18    13    0.72
Lee Spurr (Frem)    19    16    0.84
Rory Laird (Adel)    16    14    0.88
Greg Broughton (GC)    16    15    0.94

* Statistics courtesy of Champion Data

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-08-23/morris-the-miser

[Penelope]

the comments about AA selection highlight why it just a big wank fest and means SWA.It is simply not worth getting upset about who does and who doesn't get selected in this fantasy side

[1980 I Was There]

I didn't see anything of Morris until his first game but when I did, I was extremely excited at what I saw.
The typical Tiger of old, tenacious and fearless attack on the ball and the opposition is outstanding.
This Tiger will go places over the next 7 or 8 years.
If only backmen won brownlows, he'd be a shoe in for sure.

[one-eyed]

AUDIO: Richmond defender Steve Morris, spoke to Chrisso & McGuane on RSN Breakfast, ahead of the club's first final match in over ten years. Will Steve get the job on dangerous small Carlton forward, Eddie Betts?

http://www.rsn.net.au/audioplayer/1378163458.mp3


* Not only two years ago, but four and five years ago, I was running around in the SANFL. When I first went over there, I couldn’t even get a game in the seniors, for the first little bit. In the last two years, it’s all gone pretty quickly, and when you think about guys like Chris Newman, Daniel Jackson and Jake King – guys who have been around the Club for near on 10 years or more, I’m pretty lucky to come to the Club when it’s really thriving. Guys like myself and Brandon Ellis and Nick Vlastuin are really lucky to come to such a great club at a great time.

* I’ve really had to work on a few aspects of my game, in terms of the balance between offence and defence. I think I’m getting that balance right, at the right time of the year. I’m starting to have an influence, offensively.  It was probably something that was lacking earlier in the season. I was doing a good job defensively, but I just wasn’t able to hurt the opposition teams the other way.

Read full article at: http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2013-09-03/morris-riding-his-luck

[one-eyed]

Tough Tiger Steve Morris has made life a misery for forwards

    Mark Robinson
    From: Herald Sun
    September 03, 2013 9:24PM

WHEN the teams separate for their positions on Sunday afternoon, it's almost certain Steven Morris will cannon into Eddie Betts to reacquaint himself.

Twice Morris has played on Betts this year - Rounds 1 and 21 - for combined tally of 119 minutes.

In that time, he's given up just one goal.

All up, one player wants $600,000, the other pockets about $200,000.

In between is $400,000 of attitude.

He's a ripper, Morris, and a nominee for the AFL Players' Association Most Courageous Player award, as voted by his 850 peers.

He missed out on All-Australian squad selection, despite giving up a total of 17 goals to opposition forwards for the year.

The most in one game was three against Essendon in Round 9.

And it's not as if he's played on so-so players.

His scalps included Stephen Milne, Steve Motlop, Chad Wingard, Mark Le Cras, Luke Dahlhaus, Michael Walters and Cyril Rioli.

Morris is one of the reasons why the Tigers will play their first final in 12 years.

He's part of a rebuilt Richmond backline that includes Bachar Houli, Dylan Grimes, Troy Chaplin and vastly improved Alex Rance.

The sixth defensive spot is a raffle between Chris Newman, Nick Vlastuin, Brandon Ellis and Ricky Petterd.

All have their qualities, none of them has Morris's attitude.

He plays tight, plays rough and lets his opponent know nothing will come easy.

Whether it's an arm on the body, a heavy tackle, or even jogging back to their positions after a boundary throw-in when Morris will harass and bump.

He has quickly become a Tigers fans' favorite.

He played 21 games in his first year and 21 so far this year, after being recruited as a mature-age player.

His improvement must come by winning more of the ball, but at this stage he's a stopper.

Former coach Terry Wallace is a great admirer.

Morris tried out with the Tigers briefly under Wallace, but the word was Morris's body wasn't ready.

In an interview between the pair this year, Morris had a small crack at Wallace.

He reckons players such as Morris who missed out their first time, returned to state league football, and then tried again, have a greater respect for their position at the club and within the team than some players who are first and second-round draft selections.

"I had him down there when I was coaching, and his body wasn't quite right (according to the recruiters)," Wallace said.

"And sometimes going away, as he did in South Australia, it puts that steel rod in them.

"I interviewed him halfway through this year and he had a little snip at me, basically, 'thanks very much for not picking me up'. But it was good. It showed how much it meant to him. He was angry, he just wanted to le me know 'this is what I can do'."

"Some kids just don't have that attitude. Some kids don't have to fight and scrap and want."

Off the field, some players complete community work because they are told to, Morris does it because he wants to.

He is the face of the club's Best Buddies program, which is part of the club's partnership with The Alannah and Madeline Foundation

He visits schools and talks of resilience and having support for each other. It's a story he's familiar with.

Other nominations yesterday for the Robert Rose Most Courageous Award were: Rory Sloane (Adel), Joel Patfull (Bris), Kade Simpson (Carl), Luke Ball (Coll), Mark Baguley (Ess), Matt De Boer (Frem), Joel Selwood (Geel), David Swallow (GC), Callan Ward (GWS), Ben Stratton (Haw), Colin Garland (Melb), Jack Ziebell (NM), Jay Schulz (Port), Jarryn Geary (StK), Daniel Hannebery (Syd), Darren Glass (WC), Daniel Cross (WB).

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/tough-tiger-steve-morris-has-made-life-a-misery-for-forwards/story-fndv8t7m-1226710081897

[one-eyed]

Not footy related but Morro is now writing regular articles for the racing industry.

http://www.racingandsports.com.au/en/racing/from-left-of-centre-story-292952

[one-eyed]

Morris' interview on SEN this morning:

AUDIO: http://soundcloud.com/sen1116

-----------------------------------------------

Morris told to be more offensive
David Tolson
SEN
14-1-2014

After averaging 12.9 disposals in his 43-game career whilst playing on some of the best small forwards in the AFL, Richmond defender Steven Morris has been told improve the offensive side of his game.

The 25-year old told 1116 SEN that he is looking to increase his rebounds from the defensive 50.

“I know the club is pretty keen for me to be more offensive and develop my game in that area,” Morris said on Tuesday morning.

“Obviously I’ve played a fairly negative role in trying to shut down the oppositions better small forwards throughout last year but hopefully this year I can get a little bit more of the ball myself and provide a bit more rebound and run out of the backline,” he said.

The third year player said the Tigers’ training standards have improved this pre-season.

“I think we’re training a lot better than we did this time last year and hopefully we can take that into the games in a few weeks time.

“Probably our standards at training have lifted and what we expect of each other. We’ve got a better understanding of what we expect from each other out on the field and obviously out on the training track I think the skill level has gone to another level.

“We’re definitely training more – the quantity of our training has gone up and I certainly think the quality has gone up too. It’s all looking good for the next few months,” he said.

Morris touted fellow third-year player Brandon Ellis as one Tiger who looks set to explode in 2014.

“In terms of the fitness testing, Brandon Ellis has been absolutely super the whole way through.

“He’s testing high in the sprint tests, the stamina tests, he was right up the front in our 2km time-trial so he’s been fantastic.

“Our young key forwards Ben Griffiths and Ty Vickery have both shown a fair bit at training, they’ve been really good so that’s positive signs for us. It’s one area we’re keen to consolidate,” he said.

The Tigers made a conscious effort to bolster their depth in the off-season by recruiting several mature-age recruits.

Morris believes they will be a key to the Tigers push for more finals football this year.

“Shaun Hampson is a pretty big unit up forward, he’ll be fantastic for us. Nathan Gordon upstaged (Ellis) in the 2km time-trial on the weekend which was good.

“Matt Thomas has certainly got white-line fever even on the training track so it’s all good to see these guys who are certainly going to improve us throughout the year training well,” he said.

http://www.sen.com.au/display-article-2013/Morris-told-to-be-more-offensive/63301

[Stripes]

Great read  Gordon beating Ellis in the 2 km trial is great for competition. Hearing the Griffiths and Vickery are performing well is wonderful news for our forward line too. Sounds like Thomas only knows one way to play - stick him on Arnot! Hampton never had any problems taking a grab but I pray we teach him how to kick for goal!!!

[1980 I Was There]

Morris will be a star, IMO anyway.
As he said, he wants to increase his rebounds from defensive 50.
I'm sure he will, as 2012 saw a total of 37 rebounds, and that total dropped by more than half to just 16 in 2013. That's no where near as many as it should be. Especially when comparing to someone like Andrew Mackie from geepong who had 69 rebounds in 2013. Geepong didn't win a flag that year, but in 2011 when they did win the flag, Mackie had 93 rebounds for the year. Certainly says how the backline should be performing to win the big one and have a great year in all.

He played one more game than than 2012 and his stats are a fair bit lower, but I think his intensity on the ball will dramatically increase in 2014.
It's too hot to type any more 42.8 degrees here in Melbourne, I'm off the have a bourbon woooooooooohooooooooooooo.
 

[WilliamPowell]

Also, hope that the coaches have mentioned that he needs to keep his feet more and that sometimes he needs to tackle rather than going the bump 

[one-eyed]

A bit more from Morro here:


“We’ve beaten the two grand finalists in the last two seasons, so we can be very good, but the main thing is we want to be better for longer,” Morris said.

“Too many times last year we just had 10 to 15-minute fadeouts that cost us four or five goals.

“We understand we just have to put an end to that if we want to consistently be competitive against the very best sides.”

Full article at: http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2014-01-14/tigers-lift-track-standards

[Chuck17]

After many years of getting spanked by opposition small forwards I would be happy if he just continues the good work and anything on top of that is a bonus

[big tone]

Morris will be a star, IMO anyway.
As he said, he wants to increase his rebounds from defensive 50.
I'm sure he will, as 2012 saw a total of 37 rebounds, and that total dropped by more than half to just 16 in 2013. That's no where near as many as it should be. Especially when comparing to someone like Andrew Mackie from geepong who had 69 rebounds in 2013. Geepong didn't win a flag that year, but in 2011 when they did win the flag, Mackie had 93 rebounds for the year. Certainly says how the backline should be performing to win the big one and have a great year in all.

He played one more game than than 2012 and his stats are a fair bit lower, but I think his intensity on the ball will dramatically increase in 2014.
It's too hot to type any more 42.8 degrees here in Melbourne, I'm off the have a bourbon woooooooooohooooooooooooo.

Comparing Morris to Mackie just because they both play in defense is a touch unfair on Morro. A better player to compare against Mackie would be Houli when it comes to rebounding the footy. A better stat would be how many goals have been kick on Morris in the last two years.. It ain't many! Compare that to how many 'small forwards' kicked against us before Morris joined us.

[the claw]

hooray they do see faults. i wonder if they have told grimes a similar thing.
to be honest i cant see morris ever becoming a top notch rebounder and most certainly not when there is absolutely no one else to do the job he does. could houli do a shut down job on a small forward well he should be able to, but it doesnt happen. newman has always struggled with the quick small forwards. ellis nope conca nope definately not deledio.
vlastuin is a reader of the play and needs a like for like match up imo. find another player with pace who can perform the role and morris may just be freed up enough to either hurt more with rebound or go thru the middle in a run with role.