Is Cronulla's Josh Morris staying or going? A series of conflicting reports make it nearly impossible to read between lines.

It emerged last week that the veteran centre wanted to be released from the final year of his Sharks deal to re-up with brother Brett at the Sydney Roosters, a request that was denied by Cronulla.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported over the weekend that the 33-year old was "more determined than ever" to quit the Sharks following the way they reacted to his request for a release.

The report states that Morris was not even directly informed by the club that his request had been denied, instead hearing the news through the media.

However, teammate Aaron Woods has poured cold water on the speculation that Morris wants out.

Woods said Morris addressed the playing group earlier in the week.

"He just told the boys, he was honest and he's always been honest," Woods told the club website.

"He said: This is what's happened, blah, blah, blah, and we respect that. It's not like he's dropping the shoulder and coming in and being angry and trying to duck and weave.

"He's come in and just been Josh and that's why he's a great leader of the club. It's probably a good opportunity for him to go there (the Roosters) but as a player at the Cronulla Sharks, I don't want to let a leader like that go. He's a leader and a role model."

Woods resonated with Morris' position, stating he knows how quickly things can change in the rugby league landscape.

"Things happen in rugby league, you know? I signed a four-year deal with the Bulldogs and six months later I was at the Cronulla Sharks," the burly prop said.

"Things happen and it's not always the player's fault. Things happen behind the scenes at clubs that we don't know what goes on.

"To his credit he's come back and ripped in. Three tries today, he had a kid last week and he's jumped on the plane to play with the boys so it shows the character of the bloke.

"He's been enormous. His numbers at training have been phenomenal and you can tell, it's the fittest he's been in a long time.

"He had a great pre-season. I think he missed one or two sessions and that's because his wife had a baby."

52 COMMENTS

  1. “He wasn’t told directly from the club. He heard it in the media”

    The club isn’t supposed to tell him. The club tells his agent and then his agent tells him.

    Someone should give these guys a dictionary and tell them to look up the definition of “contract”

  2. What a joke if he’s so keen his brother can come to us and we will throw in Dugan. If not give us a player in rtn like Radley or Butcher. They want everything but want to give us nothing! Typical Roosters!

  4. I have it on useless authority ( Twenty1 ) that the 35 yr old who is currently 33, will in fact be signing on with the Sydney premiers those Red White and Blue Roosters.

    In my opinion it makes perfect sense for Cronulla to free up Morris’s money by letting him depart, so Cronulla can make a larger offer to Xerrie.

    Morris according to TwentyOne, will be in Sydney’s colors by round 1.

  6. ……..one thing is certain. The Dud Dugan will never have a Sydney Roosters jersey. He will be at either Souths transit.lounge or staying at the Sharks.

  7. The sharks have to make Morris stay , otherwise they’ll have no chance of keeping Xerri. If they fail now imagine later in the year when Xerri can start negotiations with the roosters. Sharks have to stay strong, I know they are trying to offload Dugan so it’s a bit hypocritical of the sharks, but the club should always come before the players

  8. Mole are you suggesting the Roosters let Mitchell go as a favour to the Sharks. I cant quite connect those dots??
    I thought the virgin white Roosters were pushing him to go?

  9. Sounds like Morris is a man child. I would imaging the club is under absolutely no obligation morally or otherwise to respond to Morris’ request to break contract. In one article he is as determined to leave as ever. In another one he’s a consumate professional who won’t let his contract issues get in the way of his performance. What a complete k*#b.
    Sharks should hold on to him and make him play reserve grade until Xerri is called up for origin.

  10. I don’t think your Nuggets has any option but to let Mitchell go, after they withdrew their offer to him. If they wanted him to stay, they had to up the offer.

  11. butters
    February 17, 2020 at 5:02 pm
    Mole are you suggesting the Roosters let Mitchell go as a favour to the Sharks. I cant quite connect those dots??
    I thought the virgin white Roosters were pushing him to go?

    Seems plain clear to me butters, Sydney pushed the non anthem singer Fatrell out the door but did not want ANY soufths dud players in return. So why would Sydney give Cronulla a premiership winning player for Morris. If Morris wants out like Fatrell then why keep a player that wants out.?

  12. ClownOfDivide🤡. Fatrell Shot himself in the foot by not signing the biggest offer for a centre in NRL history. Greed got the better of him after Canterbury planted a bad seed in his mind that they would pay him ten mil for ten years, then pulled out.

    By being greedy he was instantly on the sacked hotlist. Sydney Roosters Fatrell did not know it at the time but when he thought he could play the field and then at Christmas Time think he can just march back into the Roosters exceptionally brilliant team just proved his immaturity and his short sightedness looking at the big picture. The tears flowed big time when he realised his stupidity cost him his Beloved Roosters job. Then the last club standing was the Souths transit.lounge.

    The Roosters sacked him and the mentally ill fatrell thinks all of Australia think his people are 2nd class citizens when the majority of Aussies do not think that at all. So he has made it his mission to take on all Australians over issues most Australians agree with. He needs to grow up.

  13. God the crap that comes out of the mouths of the mole and adam, seriously these guys , I reckon, actually believe what they write , they are seriously trying to get all to believe that Easts wanted him out , yet offered him a contarct way above anyone who has played in the centres for Easts and he said no, why did he say no? cause he hates the place, this is a club who invented the transit lounge, had to , cause they have never invested in juniors, and don’t give me the crap about Souths stealing their territory, when they had it they never put in, just buy premierships has been their mandate, everyone knows it and these Easts guys can’t handle the truth that all league supporters have absolutly no time for Easts, cause most clubs over the years and been burnt by Easts raiding their best players.
    Grow up you pair of losers and Mark. as well , this site started to get some creditability when woody was turfed, hopefully ZT will finish the job.

  14. Isn’t Dugan on 950k wouldn’t that make Mitchell offer 150k short. Dugan signed in at the sharks to been an outside back. So your wrong again Adam cow terd

  15. I said 1 month ago he was going.
    It’s all the roosters can attract with cream players signing elswhere avoiding this toxic joint.

  16. Firstly, I think the Sharks would be mad to try and keep Morris if he does actually want out. He’s at the end of his career and has nothing to play for, so if the Sharks hold him to his contract he could just (effectively) retire now.
    Penso, whilst I don’t agree with how AdamHoward expressed it, I think the core of his arguememt is right. I think (opinion) that Latrell/his manager chased the mega bucks with nothing to lose, because they had the $800k offer from the Roosters as a fallback and/or could use other offers to get it increased. Clearly that didn’t work, and credit to the Roosters management for pulling the offer when thy did. Why would you keep the offer on the table in the extremely unlikely event (at the time) that it would be accepted, especially knowing you have to provision for it in your cap?
    So the Bunnies get a very good player at a fair to cheap price for a year or two, and Latrell/his manager learn a valuable lesson.

  17. Eels..
    If he’s one of your best player , you go the extra mile to at least try & keep him. Or is it better to now go collecting geriatric centres? I can’t see how that advantages the club? At the very least , keep the offer on the table . Listen to what his manager comes back with from other clubs . Then up the offer a little. Just withdrawing the offer altogether, makes sure he’s leaving. There was no choice left.
    All this other crap about being mentally ill etc. That’s just the NuggetsWoodTool , being a spoiled brat. As Mitchell left. Before he left, he was the Tools favourite player who was going nowhere.

  18. How bout this. BMoz can join his bro at the Sharks & Sharks will give roosters Dugan & Katoa who can step but doesnt have any pace after 30 metres?

  20. I love that Cronulla aren’t letting the other geriatric brother just go. They already let the Nuggets buy Flanagan. Don’t let old Josh go.
    It’s makes for great theatre . What centre’s next on the long shopping list?

  22. Makes perfect sense to me – the sharks let JMoz go to take some pressure off their salary cap. (Let’s face it, they’re stuck with Dugan).
    JMoz gets to finally win a premiership (in the same team as his bro), and retires a happy man, having accomplished all there is to accomplish in the game.
    In 2021, the Chooks field a fit Billy Smith and Joey Manu in the centres…..and soufs CHOKE 😂🤣😂🤣 YET AGAIN……..simples!
    …..and if we want to be brutally honest and actually talk FACTS…fatrell was SACKED by Easts ….that’s why he CRIED when told he’d done his dash at Bondi – so he went to his only remaining option (and 4TH choice), of a club – the mouldy, festering cesspool, burrow of deadfern.

  24. toddy123
    February 17, 2020 at 6:55 pm
    Isn’t Dugan on 950k wouldn’t that make Mitchell offer 150k short. Dugan signed in at the sharks to been an outside back. So your wrong again Adam cow terd

    terddy123 Dugan signed on at the Sharks as a fullback who could cover winger and centre. Mitchell was offered 800k as a centre.
    So egg is upon your face once more Mr Non Anthem Singer hahaha.

  26. EOD, calling Morris geriatric is not cool. He is only 33, and whilst he may not be the player he once was, he is still a good player. On top of that, I have met him and his brother when holidaying on the South Coast, and he is a champion bloke.

    almighty, I disagree with your assessment of the situation. I applaud Cronulla for not simply letting him go. If the Roosters do in fact want him, then offer something in return. It is too close to season start I think for this sort of thing, Morris should have brought this up months ago. Also, I honestly don’t see Morris as the type of player to just phone it in this year as a protest. I just can’t see him taking out his frustration with the club on his team mates and fans to be honest.

    EOD, on the Mitchell thing, like them or hate them, one thing we all know is Uncle Nick is a business man and makes good business decisions. They offered Mitchell a more than fair contract for a centre, and he openly said that he wants more money as his time in the game is limited (which is is very much in his right to do). Then all these $1M+ numbers are getting thrown around and the Roosters said no, that is enough we aren’t getting involved in that. It’s funny how everyone bags the Roosters about brown paper bags, salary cap cheating etc, but now you are saying they should have upped their offer to him. Perhaps the $800k is all they had available and didn’t want to get further invloved in the media circus that it was creating. They also have Billy Smith waiting in the wings, so maybe they were happy to sever ties and focus on the future?

    At the end of the day none of us know what happened behind closed doors. All we know is Souths got their man and the Roosters seemed happy enough to let him go. Time will tell who comes out the winner in the situation.

  28. butters February 17, 2020 at 5:02 pm
    Mole are you suggesting the Roosters let Mitchell go as a favour to the Sharks. I cant quite connect those dots??
    I thought the virgin white Roosters were pushing him to go?

    Butters, the talk was that the Roosters turfed Mitchell but i believe all from the Mitchell camp was just theater… he wanted to go to Souths all along… once the Roosters worked that out they withdrew their offer

    Bennett let it out of the bag when Souths unveiled Mitchell… he was told by Souths officials 1 year earlier that Mitchell was coming across.
    i also believe they paid over 1 Million for him… no one signs for half a million dollars less

  29. Eels….this is why Parra is my 2nd fave team….their supporters are parochial yet fair (unlike another mob of toothless drongos).
    I always enjoy going to watch Parra vs Easts games….because win or lose, you come away from Parra home games having had a really enjoyable day at the footy, not being jeered or sworn at by bad losers or winners…..my kids get to see good sportsmanship on both sides.
    Anyhow, I reiterate….Parra WILL win the comp this year, and I’ll be cheering them on – as much as I’d like to see the chooks win three in a row.

  30. penso February 17, 2020 at 6:32 pm
    God the crap that comes out of the mouths of the mole and adam, seriously these guys , I reckon, actually believe what they write , they are seriously trying to get all to believe that Easts wanted him out , yet offered him a contarct way above anyone who has played in the centres for Easts and he said no, why did he say no?

    Penso i agree with you….Mitchell wanted to go but dont fool yourself and think he went for $500K ..
    Nan Glenn paper bag was over $1Million.
    All along he said he was taking the highest offer… had to look after my family… blah blah.. and good luck to him.
    Sure its left us in a hole with the injury to Smith but as you know (and your friend so jealous of) The Roosters are the greatest club of the modern era, great men running the club and very very smart coach… we will do ok… we wont win it but thats ok, we have won 3 Premierships in 6 years.

    Long live the king

  31. Cronulla are playing ducks and drakes. There cap is bursting at the seam following their poor attempt to secure a premiership with their big ticket duds …. Moylan, Johnson and Dugan …. the latter you couldn’t give away in a packet of cornflakes…
    So….., I’m guessing Morris 2020, Xerri 2021 on a four year deal…
    …. and for all you dRedfern deadheads … Mitchell was SACKED …. attitude was one the reasons, you ‘supporters’ will know about that …soon..

  32. Repeat.
    I said 1 month ago he was going.
    It’s all the roosters can attract with cream players signing elsewhere for less as we have seen.

    chookstain February 18, 2020 at 10:35 am
    ” Mitchell was SACKED …. attitude was one the reasons, you ‘supporters’ will know about that …soon..”

    Why did Robinson and Fittler make a last minute dash to Taree 1 week before Latrell came home to Souths?
    I can assure you it wasn’t for the pizza.
    It was a desperate attempt to beg Latrell to stay with the sombreros and even an upgraded sweetener failed.
    Wake up chookstain, Latrell was an UNHAPPY superstar at the sombreros and will now pursue his lifelong dream as a Rabbitoh and a HAPPY superstar.
    Get over it, Latrell has left the building.
    Welcome home Latrell.

  33. Eels…
    Don’t care if Morris is your best mate. He’s old by player age standards . It was more of a dig at the Club trying to buy him.
    A smart businessman perhaps? The withdrawing of the offer, was just an act of spite & pettiness. Not one based on good business sense where the club was concerned. They had other independent type contracts to top up any pay deal & have had for ages.
    GNR..
    I’ve always defended players as being good players no matter where they play. Pity WoodStacks & some of your other supporters can’t tell a good player. Unless he’s wearing the French National League team jersey. I defended Mitchell. Your supporters keep attacking Mitchell & he helped them win two premierships.
    I’m so glad that WoodnFriends are your bright, racist supporters.

  34. TurkeyOne he rang up crying, they went there to console him you idiot…
    He was SACKED. He wanted back.
    He’s Souffs problem now. A team full of attitude and big heads…. Goodluck

  35. Yeah I agree EOD…..like 21 and toddy are soufs racist supporters.
    Penny’s looking good this year also…..

  36. How do you know it was out of spite? They made a very good offer for a player in his position. He made it very clear that he wanted more than that and to play a position that they have covered. Why sit around waiting for a player who, by all accounts, is going to sign elsewhere, when they can move on and focus their time on looking at what their roster will look like without him and how they will replace him.

    I am far from a Roosters fan, but my take on it is that the club made a business decision to move on, not a decision based on spite.

  37. I don’t know about that GNR?
    Panthers can’t be any good .At least until they try some more sprightly outside backs, shall we say. Whenever that is? 👍
    Eels… It just looked like an act done out of spite . Don’t re-sign with us, I’ll show you!

  38. Fox is reporting that Latrell may have upset a few at the Cowboys… hes not very smart.
    Should be an interesting year.

  39. Sorry eels, I don’t see it that way, this was an arrogant decision by Easts, most clubs would have waited to see what they could do or what the player would do when one of their best players was considering an offer, but Easts got a shock that one of their players dare test the market, they obviously think their poo don’t stink and now there paying for it, and to say Billy Smith was the answer, PLEASE, he is unprovan and from the little we all saw of him doesn’t make me at all nervious, Easts have been on a roll but that is about to come to an end, and then we will find out just how good a coach Robinson really is, wasn’t that long ago they finished close to last with Robbo coach.

  40. toddy123
    February 18, 2020 at 9:02 I am so glad you said that mark myterds
    This article will explain how Dugan was signed as an outside back and Australian centre 

    terddy123 Josh Dugan dwbut for Canberra as a fullback and has played most of his career as a fullback including the majority of his 85 games for Saints before being signed as a utility back for the Sharks. Last season for Cronulla he played manly fullback. Wikipedia has his number one position as fullback because that is his main position. Rep games .any fullbacks are used as centres which they have done with Dugan,

    https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/cronulla-sharks-sign-st-george-illawarra-dragons-star-josh-dugan-on-four-year-3-million-deal-20170520-gw9dtc.html

    Terddy123 is wrong again 😂🤣😂🤣

  41. Of coarse you don’t see it the way it really is pansy penso, you always have your one eyed green and red glasses on. Clown

  42. EastOfDivide is wrong yet again. Does he ever get anything correct? Mitchell was sacked from the Roosters and everybody knows from all media reports, that when he returned to training before Christmas they told him he was not wanted and he cried like a child.

  43. You may be right penso, most clubs might have waited for Latrell, but the Roosters don’t work that way. It doesn’t mean it was out of spite, that is just how the club is run. Anyway, you and EOD are entitled to the opinion you have, I just see it differently.

  44. Mole52 yes I saw that article, interesting considering Latrell seemed to be used as bait to push Holmes to sign.

  45. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. Even if many of them are blocked from being shown in here , for no good reason ?
    SkidMarks….From what you’re writing, it looks like I’m totally correct. Didn’t want to sign immediately, so they withdrew the offer . Once the offers withdrawn, no choice in keeping him or not. I guess that showed him. Now your clubs on a never ending journey, to try & buy another centre.
    Once Tedesco leaves, your line up is bog ordinary again . Lost the X factor & back with the also-rans. Job well done I’d say! 😂
    Make an offer to Whare please!!!!

  46. Nice try mark my boy but your wrong again
    Remember Holmes was going to be fullback for the sharks in 2018, little jack bird went to the broncos leaving a centre position vacant. Dugan was brought to play centre. You have proven once again you know absolutely nothing. Nice try little man

  47. Wrong again Terddy123, Dugan has always been regarded as a fullback, last season he played mai ly fullback and if there are any Saints fans out there. They will confirm he was Saints fullback for the majority of his five seasons there.

    Another factor that you missed terddy123.clown is the four year contract that he signed with Cronulla was a 3m dollar deal as basically Birds replace.ent as a fill in centre. Which is 750K per season. Less than fatrell’s 800K per season.

    Wrong again Terddy123, are you sure your not related to that other nutta EastOfParkes? You both dribble similar craaaap.

  48. Toddy put a sock in it will you. Dugan is mainly a fullback and played 75% of his career as a fullback.

    You claim he was offered more as a centre than Mitchell but according to 4 or 5 different news reports when he left Saints for the Sharks they all state a 4yr 750K per season deal.

    You’re a deadset idiot todd.

  49. Gussy Crichton at left centre for WCC………..yassss
    Said all along Robbo should run either Gus or Sitilli in latrell’s place.
    Gus is gonna rip it up in the centres…
    .big lad, with speed and good footwork – and used to play centre in his union days.
    Problem solved…..we don’t need JMoz!

  50. This is great news the Great Northern Rooster, he has a good off load in him too. Tupounoa can now fight it out with Faamausili, for the vacant bench spot. Sydney will have another very strong bench with
    Liu, Butcher, Collins, Sitilli, Faamusili and Verrills
    A three pete is definitely not out of reach this season. The number one coach in the game today is Robinson. He is a genius.

  51. Can’t get Josh Morris either, so stick a second rower in the centres . Just genius! No one has ever thought of doing that before.
    Temporary move, while they hunt for someone else, other than Morris.

  52. Morris will be at the Roosters as soon as the injury prone duds Dugan and Moylan put two games together on the trot in Reserve grade and then the Sharks will realise they cant afford an 700K player playing in that grade. In the mean whilst. Crichton will excel out wide.

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