Craig Hutchison says Tom Morris deserves a second chance after sacking

A year after being sacked over offensive comments about a colleague, a former reporter has the backing of media mogul Craig Hutchison.

Tom Morris and Craig Hutchison.

SEN boss and media mogul Craig Hutchison is backing in Tom Morris and says the reporter is deserving of a second chance.

The former Fox Footy reporter has been in exile since he was sacked last March after audio of him making offensive comments about then Fox Sports colleague Megan Barnard were leaked to social media.

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Reports emerged last week that SEN had reportedly approached him with several potential roles in play for the upcoming season.

The Herald Sun reported veteran broadcaster and former Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy, who now co-hosts Sportsday on SEN with Port Adelaide 300-gamer Kane Cornes, would be happy to work with Morris again.

Hutchison said the news breaker deserved another shot, detailing the second chances he had been given himself throughout his career.

“Whether it’s with us or someone else he (Morris) is a fine person who made a mistake, he deserves absolutely a second chance at the craft and someone needs to give it to him,” Hutchison said on The Sounding Board podcast.

“I’m a believer, unashamedly leaving Tom to the left, in redemption and second chances. I’ll say that point blank, I’ve had a million of them (second chances).

“I’ve been sacked, suspended, sued. I made a horrible error at (Channel) 7 where I was given a second opportunity.

“As a leader of our business in the early days I was a bit too hard on people that made blues and I’m trying to be more empathetic of second chances as I get older because I was given so many.”

Hutchy is backing in Morris’ return

Tom could be back in 2023.

Morris, 31, has completed several education programs concerning sexism, racism and other social issues over the past year.

“I’m privy to the work that he’s done on himself over the last year, I’m not here to defend the behaviour at the time,” Hutchison said.

“What he has done is an enormous amount of work on himself. Others will judge whether that was needed, how much of it – too much, too little – everyone’s going to have an opinion but I’m privy to the way he’s gone about the last year and the way he has worked on himself.

“He’s also very mindful of what work he does, how much of it and when and how.”

During his time at Fox, Morris worked alongside Healy as the breaking news reporter for the TV show On the Couch, but it’s with another fellow Fox colleague where he may end up being paired.

SEN would reportedly look to team Morris up with Sarah Olle and have the two former Fox Footy colleagues run a Sunday morning program called Sunday Crunch Time.

Hutchy was given multiple second chances. Picture: Jay Town

“Sarah and Tom have a great relationship and have been friends for a long time and a journalist on that program fits particularly well on a Sunday,” Hutchison said.

“And if you want to take a purely journalistic view of the role, he is very very good at what he does. So that’s the piece of work that we’ve been exploring.

“Could Sarah join us? And how would Sarah fit over and above that, could we build an audio career with Sarah that supports her AFL.com work?

“And then is Tom the right fit in that environment on a Sunday and work with someone who he had a good relationship with.”

Tom Morris looks set to return to the airwaves. Picture: Ian Currie

Morris apologised for his comments, which he described as “disgusting and disgraceful”.

“I would like to unconditionally apologise to everyone for my disgusting and disgraceful comments, which became public yesterday,” he posted on Twitter.

“I am especially sorry to the person involved. No one should ever in any place, or at any time, be spoken about in that way.

“I am deeply ashamed of my behaviour. My comments were hurtful to many and I will now take the time to listen, learn and work to improve myself, ensuring I become a better person. I am truly sorry to everyone.”