Adrian Morley

Adrian Morley
Personal information
Nickname Moz
Born (1977-05-10) 10 May 1977[1]
Salford, Greater Manchester, England
Playing information
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[2]
Weight 16 st 7 lb; 231 lb (105 kg)[2]
Position Prop, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1995–00 Leeds Rhinos 149 35 0 0 140
2001–06 Sydney Roosters 114 8 0 0 32
2005(loan) → Bradford Bulls 6 0 0 0 0
2007–13 Warrington Wolves 173 9 0 0 36
2014–15 Salford Red Devils 45 2 0 0 8
Total 487 54 0 0 216
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1996–07 Great Britain 30 3 0 0 12
2000–12 England 23 1 0 0 4
Source: RLP

Adrian Morley (born 10 May 1977) is an English retired professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A Great Britain and England international representative prop forward, he played for Leeds Rhinos (with whom he won the 1999 Challenge Cup), Sydney Roosters (with whom he won the 2002 NRL Premiership), Bradford Bulls (with whom he won 2005's Super League X), Warrington Wolves (with whom he won the 2009, 2010 and 2012 Challenge Cups) and Salford Red Devils. Morley was the first British player to win both a NRL and Super League championships.

Playing career

Leeds

Morley was born in Salford, but played for Leeds between 1995 and 2000. He made his England and Great Britain debuts in 1996. In the 1997 post season, Morley was selected to play for Great Britain in all three matches of the Super League Test series against Australia. Morley played for Leeds at second-row forward in their 1998 Super League Grand Final loss to Wigan. Morley won the Challenge Cup with Leeds in 1999 when they defeated London Broncos 52–16 at Wembley Stadium. He was offered a chance to play alongside his brother Chris Morley in the 2000 World Cup, who played for Wales but chose to commit to England.[3] In July 2000, Morley agreed to join Australian side Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League at the end of the season, who were being coached by former Leeds boss Graham Murray.[4]

Sydney

The 2000 NRL season was Morley's first at the Roosters. After taking twelve months to fully acclimatise, the tough, hard line forward became a central figure in club's twelfth Premiership – their first in twenty-seven years – playing at second-row forward in the 2002 NRL Grand Final's 30–8 victory over the New Zealand Warriors at Telstra Stadium. Having won the 2002 NRL Premiership, the Roosters travelled to England to play the 2003 World Club Challenge against Super League champions, St Helens RLFC. Morley played at second-row forward and scored a try in Sydney's victory. Later that year Morley played in the second row for the Roosters in the 2003 NRL grand final which was lost to Penrith Panthers. In the 2003 Ashes series against Australia, Morley was sent off after just 12 seconds of the opening match for a high tackle on Robbie Kearns. This is the fastest dismissal in the history of Test rugby league.[5] Morely played for the Roosters at prop forward in their 2004 NRL grand final loss to cross-Sydney rivals, the Bulldogs. Morley was then selected in the Great Britain team to compete in the end of season 2004 Rugby League Tri-Nations tournament. In the final against Australia he played at prop forward in the Lions' 44–4 loss.

Morley playing for England in 2008

In a round 20 match towards the end of his final season (2006) with the Roosters, Morley was sent off after attempting to knee Bulldogs player Corey Hughes in the face as the player attempted to play the ball. Afterwards he was suspended by the NRL judiciary and the Sydney Roosters released him from his contract. He returned to the UK before the season's end. Morley had helped Sydney Roosters to a World Club Challenge title as well as two further Grand Final appearances before rejoining English club, Warrington. He is one of only eight Englishmen to have played in Australian National Rugby League Grand Final winning teams.

Morley became the only player to win Great Britain caps whilst at Sydney Roosters, although Phil Clarke had won England caps whilst at Sydney City Roosters. With a property in Sydney's eastern beach suburbs, and an English partner, rumours are rife that Morley will return to Australia to retire in the sun at the end of his career – not before playing a season or two to conclude his top flight profession as a Rugby League player, with Sydney Roosters.

Bradford

In 2005 Adrian Morley became the first Englishman to complete the 'rugby league trifecta', winning Premierships in both the National Rugby League, Super League and also winning the Rugby League Challenge Cup. In late 2005, although still contracted to Roosters; Morley joined Bradford at the backend of the season and helped them to claim the Super League championship against his old team Leeds. He played for the Bradford Bulls from the interchange bench in their 2005 Super League Grand Final victory against the Leeds Rhinos. His stay at Bradford was short stayed as he joined Warrington the year after

Morley playing for Warrington in 2007

Warrington

Morley signed a 4-year deal with Warrington, beginning in 2006. He made his Warrington debut against Wigan on 9 February 2007 but lasted only 37 minutes after an accidental clash of heads with Wigan's Eamon O'Carroll which resulted in Morley having surgery on a fractured eye socket. Five rounds later Morley made his home debut and comeback against Hull Kingston Rovers. Another clash of heads resulted in Morley leaving the field after only 16 minutes with a displaced fracture of the left cheekbone. He captained the Great Britain test side that faced France in 2007. He was also appointed captain of Warrington. It was while playing for Warrington that he made his 400th competitive senior appearance in Rugby League.

Morely was named in the 24-man England squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup and also played against Wales at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster prior to England's departure.[6][7][8] Morely then travelled with the England squad to compete in the 2008 Rugby League World Cup tournament in Australia. Group A's first match against Papua New Guinea he played from the interchange bench in England's victory.

Morley guided Warrington to Challenge Cup glory in 2009, beating Huddersfield in the final at Wembley. He was selected to play for England against France in the one-off test in 2010.[9] Morley captained Warrington in the 2010 Challenge Cup Final victory over Leeds.[10] Morley was to lead England in the 2010 Four Nations but was ruled out after injuring himself in a warm up match against the New Zealand Māori rugby league team.[11]

Morley played for England in the 2011 Four Nations. England made the tournament's final and in the final, Morley made his 50th International appearance.[12]

Morley's autobiography, "Moz", was released on 12 November 2012 and reprinted twice in the run up to Christmas 2012.

Salford

Morley signed a one-year deal for his hometown club Salford for the 2014 season. Morley spoke about wanting to finish his career with his hometown club and now he will get the chance to do so. The 36-year-old forward was appointed the Red Devils captain at the start of the 2014 season.

On 10 September 2015, Adrian announced that he would retire from playing rugby league at the end of the 2015 season.[13]

On 14 October 2015, It was announced that Morley would play one more rugby league match. In his last match, he represented his debut club, Leeds, in a one-off exhibition game against New Zealand.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Stott, Julie (6 October 2010). "England Four Nations Pen Pics". News of the World. UK: News Group Newspapers Ltd. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  2. 1 2 "Adrian Morley Leeds Rhinos". www.superleague.co.uk. Rugby Football League. 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Walmsley, David (19 September 2002). "Morley denies Wales link". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  4. ↑ Wilson, Andy (31 July 2000). "Big Pommie braced for the welcome down under". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  5. ↑ "Tri-Nations: Great Britain profiles". Mail Online. UK: Associated Newspapers. 19 October 2004. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  6. ↑ "Myler gets England call". England Rugby League. 29 September 2008. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2008.
  7. ↑ "Purdham earns World Cup call-up". BBC. 7 October 2008. Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  8. ↑ "Gleeson to lead new-look England". BBC. 9 October 2008. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
  9. ↑ Hadfield, Dave (13 June 2010). "Widdop passes his first Test at a canter". The Independent. London: Independent Print Limited. Archived from the original on 15 June 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  10. ↑ Scott, Ged (28 August 2010). "Leeds 6–30 Warrington". BBC. Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2010.
  11. ↑ "League: English captain to miss Four Nations". The New Zealand Herald. 17 October 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  12. ↑ "Morley set for 50th cap". Sky Sports. 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2015-08-03.
  13. ↑ "MORLEY ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT". superleague.co.uk. 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  14. ↑ "Adrian Morley to end career with Leeds v New Zealand game". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 October 2015.

External links

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