Why Josh Morris? Why!?
I was such a fan! Well, truthfully I still am, but Why!?
For those who missed Josh Morris's comments last night on broadcast television, the former Shark, Bulldog, and Dragon fell into the old cliche of bagging the side he recently left despite said side assisting him.
Morris was quick to heap praise on his new club, as is tradition and quite frankly the right thing to do, however he was equally as quick to throw shade at his former club the Sharks.
The same side who offered him a contract for 2019 when no other NRL side would, saving him from facing a retirement vs England decision.
The same side who released the Origin centre despite having Morris signed to an incredible value deal.
The same side who released Morris despite losing hundreds of games of experience at the end of 2019 leaving them with a very inexperienced back line.
The same side who released him despite having injured back line players struggling to return to fill positions, leaving a near all rookie back three.
Damn those Sharkies aye!?
Morris wasn't overly harsh in his criticism, instead relying on the old "the training is much betterer and bestest than my old club yada yada yada" chestnut.
No need for it Mr Morris.
The Sharks were quite within their rights to sit Morris on the wing for the entirety of 2020 denying their star's request to achieve his dream of "play with his twin brother".
The same twin brother he played with across two clubs over many seasons. The same brother he played with at both Origin and international level.
That "dream" line gets thrown around nearly every time a player wants a release, or a position change, or an extra zero at the end of their contract figure.
I fully admit, as a Sharks fan, I wasn't happy to see Morris throw mud at his former club after all that the club did to its own detriment.
Don't give me that salary cap excuse garbage. The Sharks had multiple options. Sure, this was the easiest given the conditions but with all the uncertainty the Sharks would have easily made the moves required to be cap compliant for this the last season of their reduction.
How easy would it have been for Morris to respond to questions with a simple "the training here is really intense, club culture is a winning one" etc etc?
Almost too easy.
Instead he threw the poor old Sharkies under the bus.
Haven't we already suffered enough? ... Mainly through our own making, but still!
What I want to know is, how did Morris arrive at this conclusion that the Roosters have such an incredible training regime being that all club activities, training included, were called off prior to his arrival at the Roosters?
Technically his last day at the Sharks was a Saturday night and the NRL wasn't called off until the Monday evening, so he could have had a full day and a bit in the tri-colours.
Hardly time to compare a full competition year as well as two pre-seasons worth of training to maybe, perhaps, possibly one session in Bondi.
Seems almost like a cheap, lazy, cliche that a player of his experience and knowledge should have known better than to resort to?
"Get over it" I hear already in the comments.
Oh, the social media response was "his brother probably told him the training was better."
The brother being Brett who has trained exactly zero times with the Shire outfit.
Not withstanding the absolute ridiculousness of his "brother telling him" vs real life experience.
More than one source has indicated Morris was less than professional in his exit. Resorting to playing the "dream" card when pushing for an exit to a club looking for a three peat of title wins with a free position in the centres.
I'll always like Josh Morris. He was arguably the Sharks best player last season and has always put in 110% for club, state and country.
These comments will wash over and will likely have been either missed or forgotten by the majority of NRL fans already, but still, why Josh!?
When moving to a new job it's the Aussie way to sink the slipper into the work place you've just left, even it working there was an absolute dream.
Just do it in private and not in a national broadcast interview after said workplace went out of their way to release you from a contract that saw them gain almost zero advantage.
