Crawley Files: How Brett Morris’s desire and dedication outshone Jarryd Hayne’s NRL journey
He’s the NRL’s highest paid player, but somehow Daly Cherry-Evans escapes the criticism thrown at other playmakers despite a horror start.
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This is a story of how Brett Morris’s desire and dedication ultimately outgunned the Hayne Plane.
It seems a lifetime ago now that Morris and Jarryd Hayne made their NRL debuts just nine days apart in 2006.
Fast forward 15 years and who could have predicted their journeys would pan out as they did?
Right here is a wonderful example of that great old quote about why hard work will always beat talent, if the talented don’t work hard enough.
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Make no mistake, both were always considered outstanding athletes.
But if we are being fair dinkum, Morris was never at Hayne’s freakish level.
Yet what ultimately defined their careers was, dare I say it, selflessness v selfishness.
Morris, now 34, is still in phenomenal form going into his 16th season after becoming the first player to score back-to-back hat-tricks in the opening two rounds.
Meanwhile, after playing his last game in 2018, Hayne has been found guilty of sexual assault, and the judge said that jail time was “inevitable”.
This column is not about investigating how and why Hayne’s life spiralled out of control off the field.
It’s about, while we ponder what may be next for him, trying to make sense of why one of the game’s most gifted talents never truly realised his phenomenal potential.
That opportunity was forfeited at age 30, the same time Morris was about to start a glorious last chapter of his career at the Roosters — one in which he has won a second premiership. Hayne’s career ended with none, but he did win two Dally M Medals.
That scorecard — and a line Hayne muttered when he left on a typically single-minded, yet singular focused, campaign in American football — are perhaps how the career of the two polar opposites may well be judged.
Who will forget when Hayne took off to the NFL at the end of 2014 after he’d won his second Dally M. He announced he needed to chase another challenge because he had “accomplished everything in rugby league”.
It staggered many, coming from the superstar who had spent nine seasons at a club that hadn’t won a premiership since 1986.
Cameron Smith, the man who has won it all individually and as the ultimate team leader, called Hayne into question straight away. He was in disbelief that Hayne would think he could be satisfied without experiencing the greatest joy of a team player — winning a competition.
To those who knew Hayne best, it came as no great surprise, given his attitude over the years was always considered his Achilles heel.
Teammates often talked about a bloke who played by his own rules at training and on the field. How it drove his coaches crazy. Michael Hagan, Stephen Kearney and Ricky Stuart all had their Hayne stories. So did poor Neil Henry, who hasn’t coached in the NRL since he took Hayne back from the NFL.
All tried to convince Hayne the team was greater than its parts, even if he was the most precious part of all.
Yet Hayne remained a man who wanted to do it his way. And if it wasn’t the right way, there was never a substantial consequence.
He was always pampered.
Hayne was the NRL rookie of the year in 2006. The year before, Parramatta’s Tim Smith won the gong. The year after Hayne, it was Israel Folau. Then it was Chris Sandow. And Jamal Idris.
None achieved what they promised in rugby league.
Ultimately, it is dedication and attention to detail that turns brilliant prospects into champions.
Talent is rarely enough. Just look at Darren Lockyer to Johnathan Thurston, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk. Make no mistake, plenty of the best judges will tell you Hayne could have been the greatest of them all. Instead, he was always going to be termed an enigma. Sadly, recent events make it an even more tragic assessment.
Benji Marshall is another who has exceeded the early expectations. When Benji exploded on to the scene as a schoolboy, he had as much talent as any.
Yet it wasn’t his natural brilliance that ultimately won him the respect in the long term, but his ability to pick himself up off the canvas every time he was knocked down.
With his attitude. His resilience. His commitment to others.
And he’s still showing it as the NRL’s oldest player at 36, eight seasons after he was first shown the door at Wests Tigers — and after being made expendable by the Tigers for a second time.
Some thought he was a Wayne Bennett charity case when Souths threw him a lifeline for a second time. But Benji has already proved the critics wrong with an influence on teammates that has been a revelation at Redfern.
It’s the same with Brett Morris and his twin brother Josh at the Roosters.
Shown the door at Belmore, Brett accepted a token of what he was worth to play for the opportunity to win a premiership. His gratitude is displayed every single week, through performances alone and the way he and Josh carry themselves as role models of which the game can be proud.
Meanwhile, Hayne returned from San Francisco, took the ridiculous money on offer and never fitted in at the Titans. He went back to Parramatta, where he wanted to be all along, and rarely had the impact fans had seen in brilliant spurts right through his career, but rarely consistently enough.
Footy might be the furthest thing from his mind right now, but I wonder if Hayne still believes he achieved all that he could have?
Brett Morris, meanwhile, methodically and unassumingly, is still seeking more.
WHY IS DCE AVOIDING SCRUTINY?
When Daly Cherry-Evans is on his game, the Manly captain is unquestionably one of the NRL’s best players.
But let’s call this for what it is, DCE has had a shocking start to this season and he needs to lift big time against St George Illawarra on Friday night.
For some reason Cherry-Evans has evaded the same type of scrutiny that has focused on Ben Hunt and other underperforming but highly-paid playmakers such as Michael Morgan and Luke Brooks.
Let’s not forget Cherry-Evans is also the highest-paid player in the game on a reported $1.25m a season.
But after finishing last year on a high as Queensland’s triumphant State of Origin skipper, Cherry-Evans’ form in the opening two rounds against the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney has been extremely worrying.
It is hard to believe we have been watching the only player challenging Nathan Cleary to be the Australian No. 7 at this year’s World Cup.
Sure, the Sea Eagles are still missing star fullback Tom Trbojevic and suspended hooker Manase Fainu. But regardless, we all expected a lot more from Des Hasler’s team this year than what they have shown so far.
And a lot of that has to fall back on the underperforming captain.
It is not as if Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran lack experience as a halves pairing and it is not a bad pack led by Martin Taupau and Jake Trbojevic.
While there is no question they are lacking depth across the park, at least on Friday night they will be back punching in their own weight division when they play the Dragons.
The worry for Manly is that Hunt is back playing with confidence after his man-of-the-match performance in Townsville.
That only heaps more pressure on the Sea Eagles’ struggling No.7.
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