‘We were keen on him, the coaches weren’t’: How this star slipped to the Lions

In a not so different world Logan Morris is playing for Geelong, not against them at the Gabba on Thursday night.

The Cats were one of the few clubs, like the Brisbane Lions, who looked at what Morris was and not what he wasn’t, at what he could do not what he couldn’t.

Morris was selected in the draft at pick No.31. The Cats had pick 32. The Cats had seriously contemplated Morris with their first pick in that draft when they took Connor O’Sullivan at No.11. It was not exactly a mistake to bypass Morris, given O’Sullivan’s career to date.

Had the Lions passed on Morris, there is every chance the Cats would have picked him. They took Mitch Edwards at pick No.32 and are seriously pleased with the fact they look like having selected a 10-year ruckman. But had Morris been there? Geelong had another selection four places later at 36 and would probably have held their breath hoping Edwards would squeeze through to them there. They picked Shaun Mannagh so, again, weren’t left gnashing their teeth over missed opportunities.

Many clubs in that 2023 draft found Morris inscrutable. Some liked him and just had other priorities than an in-between-sized forward. Whatever it was, Morris slipped through the draft and now has more than one club reflecting how, and why, they ruled the highly talented forward out at their pick.

Morris has just turned 21 and has kicked 98 goals in two and a half seasons. Of players to debut this century, his 98 goals is the third-highest return by a player before their 21st birthday. Only Lance “Buddy” Franklin (125) and Jack Darling (103) kicked more.

Interestingly, Darling also stands 191 centimetres, the same height as Morris. At that height, just under 6′3″ in the old scale, Morris is also shorter than Patrick Cripps but the same height as Scott Pendlebury and last year’s No.1 pick, Willem Duursma. Midfielders all.

Archer Reid, 10 centimetres taller than Morris, was taken one pick ahead of him in the draft. Reid has the dimensions for the position clubs could better understand.

“There was one game in particular that sold him to me. He came up and played a game at Werribee seniors in the VFL the year before he was drafted, and he didn’t get a whole lot of it, but he did have an impact. He played like he does now, knew where to be, was athletic and was not daunted,” said one recruiter who declined to be named in order to talk about a player from another club.

“We [recruiters] were keen on him, but the coaches weren’t. They thought at 191 he was never going to be a key [position player], so it was just not a fight you were going to win.”

Other clubs dismissed him out of hand because their coaches hate third tall forwards so he would never get a look-in in their systems.

Morris thus is now the poster boy for list and recruiting departments not to overthink talent and not to look too hard for reasons not to pick a player when the reason to pick them is staring you in the face. Morris averages nearly three goals a game at AFL level.

One recruiter, who also did not want to be named talking about another club’s player, said it was not just uncertainty about Morris’ size and being able to translate what he did as a junior to AFL level playing against men, he also suffered in his draft year from the fact he played for the Western Jets.

His manager Tim Hazell agreed.

“The hard thing for Loges was he was at Western Jets, which is tough footy, not sexy, not on Broadway so he probably got a bit pushed back because of that,” Hazell said.

“If he played for Oakleigh or Eastern he probably goes first round. But I understand it. He was hard to work out because he had a Vic Metro game and he didn’t touch it, but then he came out the next week and was BOG. There were areas of his game that had slight questions marks, but he has gone to Brisbane and worked his absolute arse off.

“He arrives at Brisbane and is mentored by Josh Dunkley. And he is a kid who loves recovery and training and working hard. The first year he plays with Joe Daniher and Hippy [Eric Hipwood] and they are looking after him.

“His athleticism, his third and fourth efforts, his work rate is just elite.

“Geelong would have taken him with the next pick and other clubs were lining up with late second-round picks for him.”

A second source confirmed the Cats had seriously looked at Morris at pick No.11 and would probably have taken him at 30 and hoped Edwards got through to 36.

He is now out of contract at the end of next year and will be the subject of great interest to the Tasmania start-up team up and until he re-signs with the Lions ahead of the Devils getting unfettered access to one out-of-contract player at each club.

Ironically, Morris arrived at Brisbane just as Jack Gunston, a third tall forward in his first stanza at Hawthorn, couldn’t find his place playing that type of role at the Lions and quickly decamped back to Hawthorn, where, incidentally, he has been excellent both as a third tall and playing a key forward, first-choice target role.

So the Lions could have been burnt by the Gunston experience and been wary of bringing in a 191cm forward playing a third tall role.

They weren’t. They looked at what he was, not what he wasn’t, and what he is now is a 21-year-old dual-premiership player.

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