John Morris (rugby league)

John Morris (born 29 July 1980), is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Cronulla Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League (NRL), and a former professional rugby league footballer.

John Morris
Personal information
Full nameJohn Andrew Morris
Born (1980-07-29) 29 July 1980
Scone, New South Wales, Australia
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Weight90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
Playing information
PositionHooker, Five-eighth, Halfback
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2001–02 Newcastle Knights 31 11 0 0 44
2003–06 Parramatta Eels 92 18 10 3 95
2007–09 Wests Tigers 72 11 0 1 45
2010–14 Cronulla Sharks 105 9 0 1 37
Total 300 49 10 5 221
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2002–03 NSW Country 2 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
2019– Cronulla Sharks 46 22 0 24 48
As of 16 September 2019
Source: [1][2][3]

He previously played as a hooker or five-eighth for the Newcastle Knights, Parramatta Eels, Wests Tigers and the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League. Morris was selected on the bench for Country Origin to play City Origin in 2002 and 2003.

Background

Morris was born in Scone, New South Wales, Australia. He is the Uncle of Cronulla Sharks player Teig Wilton.

Playing career

Morris played for the Scone Thoroughbreds in his junior years. He made his NRL debut in round 17 of the 2001 NRL season for the Newcastle Knights against the Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium on 22 June 2001.

Having won the 2001 NRL Premiership, the Newcastle club traveled to England to play the 2002 World Club Challenge against Super League champions, the Bradford Bulls. Morris was selected to play from the interchange bench in Newcastle's loss.

Morris played for NSW Country in 2002 and in 2003. Between 2003 and 2006, Morris played for Parramatta primarily at five-eighth and won the Minor Premiership with the club in the 2005 NRL season. Morris played in Parramatta's 2005 shock 0-29 preliminary final defeat by North Queensland.[4]

In 2007, Morris switched from Parramatta to the Wests Tigers on a three-year contract. He was bought as a replacement for the recently departed Scott Prince.[5] He played 72 games for the Tigers during this period, never missing a game.

In 2009 he signed a two-year deal with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks commencing in 2010.

On 26 May 2014, Morris played his 300th NRL career game against the South Sydney Rabbitohs with the match finishing in an 18-0 loss at Shark Park.[6] Morris played 11 games in the 2014 NRL season which would be his last as a player. Cronulla finished the year bottom of the table and claimed the Wooden Spoon.[7]

Coaching career

In 2017, Morris became the new NYC coach for Cronulla and guided the side to the minor premiership before crashing out of the finals series. At the end of 2017, Morris was named NYC coach of the season. On 3 January 2019, Morris was named interim head coach of Cronulla after Shane Flanagan was de-registered by the NRL for breaching conditions of a suspension handed down in 2014.[8]

On 31 January 2019, it was announced that Morris would be Cronulla's new full time coach going into the 2019 season.[9][10]

In his first season as Cronulla coach, Morris guided the club to a 7th placed finish at the end of the 2019 regular season. Cronulla were eliminated from the finals in the first week losing to Manly 28-16 at Brookvale Oval.[11]

References
  1. Rugby League Project
  2. League Central
  3. RLP
  4. "Parramatta Eels: Five times they should have been set for a big season but flopped". Fox Sports.
  5. Craig Hill. "NRL News". www.league.net.au. Archived from the original on 9 April 2008.
  6. "Wests Tigers utility John Morris signs with Cronulla for two years". Fox Sports News (Australia). 27 June 2009. Archived from the original on 6 October 2009. Retrieved 27 June 2009.
  7. "Sharks set for wooden spoon after defeat to Raiders". The Guardian.
  8. https://www.nrl.com/news/2019/01/03/john-morris-named-interim-coach-of-cronulla-sharks/
  9. "Sharks confirm Morris will take over as club's new head coach". www.foxsports.com.au.
  10. "Morris set to be confirmed as new Sharks coach". www.nrl.com.
  11. "Under-strength Sea Eagles send Sharks packing". NRL.
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