Rod Morris is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australian international and Queensland

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

representative front row forward, he played club football in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

for Balmain, and in the

Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League is a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership under the Queen ...

for

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

(with whom he won the 1977 and 1978 Grand Finals) and

Wynnum-Manly The Wynnum-Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum. They competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1951 to 1997. Since ...

(with whom he won the 1982 Grand Final).

Playing career

Morris was a Brisbane Easts player who first represented for

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in 1976 and then

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1977. He signed with the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...

in 1979 and was brought to Sydney, thus becoming eligible to play for New South Wales under the selection criterion of the time. In the 1979 interstate series he played against his Queensland resident brother Des Morris. He then played for Queensland in 1980 in the first ever

Rugby League State of Origin The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...

under the new origin selection criterion. He was a

1978 Kangaroo tour The 1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France comprised the Australia national rugby league team's fourteenth tour of Great Britain and ninth tour of France, and took place from September to December 1978. Coached by Frank Stanton and captai ...

ist playing in two Tests and ten minor tour matches. He played in all three Tests of the 1979 domestic Ashes series which Australia won 3-0. Morris made a return to Brisbane club football in 1982 and captained

at the age of 32 to a

premiership title which was Wynnum-Manly's first ever. He put in a man-of-the-match performance in the 2nd game of the

1982 State of Origin series The 1982 State of Origin series was the first annual three-match series between New South Wales and Queensland to be played entirely under "state of origin" selection rules. After the matches in 1980 and 1981 that trialed the concept, 'Origin' w ...

before making his last representative appearances in that year's

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...

, playing in four tour matches and contributing to the Invincibles' unbeaten tour record, being the only player in the team, however, to not score a try on the tour. Morris is also remembered for his short-lived "Deer in the headlights" style when making his Channel Nine debut as a commentator for the 1989 State Of Origin series. He is one of a number of players to have represented both Queensland and New South Wales and one of those rare foundation Origin representatives whose NSW appearances were bookended by selections for Queensland. Now Rod Morris is owner and operator of McDonald's restaurants in the South-Eastern suburbs of Brisbane. The store's that he owns include; Victoria Point, Capalaba, Capalaba Park and Cannon Hill. He previously owned Cleveland, Albion and Wynnum West stores until he sold them to both to his sons-in-law.

Sources

* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Rod 1950 births Living people Wynnum Manly Seagulls players Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league players from Ipswich, Queensland Balmain Tigers players Eastern Suburbs Tigers players Australia national rugby league team players Rugby league props