AFL By The Numbers: 38 Dale Morris
38
Dale Morris.
Defender for the Western Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs didn't add a lot of defensive prospects with high selections from the drafts over the recent years. They did manage to find Harris and Hargrave late in AFL drafts while Dale Morris lasted until the rookie draft in 2005. Morris was pick 19. There was a lot of talent in that draft, with Danyle Pearce and Clinton Young taken just before Morris and Harry O'Brien and Jonathan Griffin drafted right after Morris.
While Morris doesn't have real key position height he sometimes has to play on the big forwards of the AFL. But he can run off them which is a big part of the Bulldogs' game-plan. The addition of Tom Williams to the defensive structure should allow Morris to play on the medium-sized forwards of the AFL.
Morris' game is improving every year and this season he is kicking the ball a lot more than he did in his first two years. When he started he would look to handball to someone like McMahon or Gilbee but he now has more kicks than handballs. Morris recently had his best game of his short career for kicks with 14, he has registered 13 handballs in a game on several occasions.
The big-name veterans at the Bulldogs get all the publicity but it is the overachievers at the other end of the ground who will be just as important in September.
Dale Morris information:
190cm, 86kg
Official AFL Profile
Wikipedia entry
Number 37
Dale Morris.
Defender for the Western Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs didn't add a lot of defensive prospects with high selections from the drafts over the recent years. They did manage to find Harris and Hargrave late in AFL drafts while Dale Morris lasted until the rookie draft in 2005. Morris was pick 19. There was a lot of talent in that draft, with Danyle Pearce and Clinton Young taken just before Morris and Harry O'Brien and Jonathan Griffin drafted right after Morris.
While Morris doesn't have real key position height he sometimes has to play on the big forwards of the AFL. But he can run off them which is a big part of the Bulldogs' game-plan. The addition of Tom Williams to the defensive structure should allow Morris to play on the medium-sized forwards of the AFL.
Morris' game is improving every year and this season he is kicking the ball a lot more than he did in his first two years. When he started he would look to handball to someone like McMahon or Gilbee but he now has more kicks than handballs. Morris recently had his best game of his short career for kicks with 14, he has registered 13 handballs in a game on several occasions.
The big-name veterans at the Bulldogs get all the publicity but it is the overachievers at the other end of the ground who will be just as important in September.
Dale Morris information:
190cm, 86kg
Official AFL Profile
Wikipedia entry
Number 37
