Adrian Morley

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Adrian Morley
Morley in 2007
Personal information
Nickname	Moz, Mozza, Captain Sent Off
Born	10 May 1977 (1977-05-10) (age 32)
	Salford, United Kingdom
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.90 m)
Weight	16 st 7 lbs (105 kg)
Playing information
Position	Prop / Second row
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1994–2000	Leeds Rhinos	149				149
2001–2006	Sydney Roosters	113				28
2005	Bradford Bulls	6				0
2006	Warrington Wolves	40				4
	Total	308	0	0	0	181
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1996–2007	Great Britain	30	1	0	0	4
1996–	England	6	0	0	0	0
As of 2 November, 2008

Adrian Morley (born 10 May 1977 in Salford, Greater Manchester) is an English professional rugby league footballer for the Warrington Wolves of the European Super League.

A second or front-row forward, Morley's current club side is the Warrington Wolves, he has also played with Leeds in the English Super League competition. Morley has also spent six seasons playing with the Sydney Roosters in Australia in their major competition the National Rugby League(NRL).

[edit] Leeds

Morley won the Challenge Cup with Leeds Rhinos in 1999 defeating the London Broncos 52 - 16 at Wembley Stadium.

[edit] Sydney Roosters

In 2001 Morley agreed to join former Leeds coach Graham Murray, who was coaching the Sydney Roosters in Australia. After taking twelve months to fully acclimatise, the tough, hard line forward was a central figure in Roosters' twelfth Premiership in 2002 - their first in twenty-seven years. The Sydney Roosters defeated the New Zealand Warriors 30 - 8 at Telstra Stadium.

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 for several weeks by the NRL judiciary and the Sydney Roosters released him from contract, and he returned to the UK before the season's end. The uncompromising forward had helped Sydney Roosters to a World Club Challenge title as well as two further Grand Final appearances before rejoining English club, Warrington Wolves.

Adrian Morley is the only player to win Great Britain caps whilst at the Sydney Roosters, whilst Phil Clarke is the only player to win England caps whilst at the Sydney City Roosters.

[edit] Representative career

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.

He captained a Great Britain test side that faced France in 2007.

He has been named in the England training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup,^[1] and in October 2008 he was named in the final 24-man England squad.^[2]

He has been named in the England team to face Wales at the Keepmoat Stadium prior to England's departure for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup.^[3]

[edit] Bradford Bulls

In 2005 Adrian Morley became the first Englishmen to complete the 'rugby league trifecta', winning Premierships in both the National Rugby League, Super League and also winning the Challenge Cup.

In late 2005, although still contracted to the Roosters; Morley joined the Bradford Bulls at the backend of the season and helped them to claim the Super League championship against his old team the Leeds Rhinos.

[edit] Warrington Wolves

Morley returned to the engage Super League after signing a 4 year deal with the Warrington Wolves.

He made his Warrington Wolves debut against Wigan Warriors on 9 February 2007 but lasted only 37 Minutes after an accidental clash of heads with Wigan Warriors' Eamon O'Carroll which resulted in Morley having surgery on a fractured eye socket.

5 rounds later Morley made his home debut and comeback versus Hull Kingston Rovers. But another freak clash of heads resulted in Morley leaving the field after only 16 Minutes with a displaced fracture of the left cheekbone. Morley has had surgery to fix the problem and is expected to return for the game against Bradford Bulls on Sunday 29 April 2007

He now captains the Warrington Wolves side and is regarded among fans as the club's best signing for many years, with his big hits and powerful runs, making 2857 meters in 22 appearances so far in the 2008 season.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Wolves profile
• 2001 Ashes profile
• Article - Morley set for footy grand slam
• Morley to captain Great Britain
• Ryles can overcome injury, and I should know: Morley
• Morley hoping for Seventh Heaven - article at manchestereveningnews.co.uk
• Profile at leedsrugby
• International Statistics at englandrl.co.uk
• Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org