Rugby league player Michael Morgan pleads guilty to cocaine supply
A rugby league player who trained with the Canterbury Bulldogs’ junior teams and Ireland’s World Cup squad has admitted to dealing cocaine.
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A rugby league player who trained with the Canterbury Bulldogs’ junior teams and Ireland’s World Cup squad has admitted to dealing cocaine.
Once considered a rising star, Michael Koheleti Morgan, 24, pleaded guilty in Waverley Local Court on Tuesday to supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the property proceeds of crime.
According to a police fact sheet tendered to the court, officers caught Morgan with cocaine when a man left Bondi Beach’s Hotel Ravesis and got into his car on the night of Australia Day.
When confronted by plainclothes officers, the man punched a female police officer before fleeing the scene.
Police asked Morgan what he was doing to which he replied he “just had to collect some money that a mate owed me”.
But Morgan’s story became unstuck when he was asked what his friend’s name was, telling officers “I don’t know, I just work for him”.
Police searched Morgan’s car and found loose $100 notes, white powder hidden in a Rexona deodorant roll and the app Wickr installed on his phone, which is commonly use by drug dealers.
A total of 6.7 grams of cocaine and $1865 cash was seized before Morgan was charged.
In court, Morgan’s defence lawyer said his client would plead guilty to the charges after a number of other charges were struck out and asked for an adjournment so a report could be prepared before sentencing.
Born in Sydney, Morgan trained with the Canterbury Bulldogs’ junior teams and was also called up to Ireland’s world cup squad in 2017.
“It would be ideal to get a crack at first grade — that’s everyone’s dream — but I’ll just take it step by step,” he said in 2017.
He will be sentenced in June.
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