BIO

Born in Port Lincoln in 1971, Paul Morris, (nicknamed ‘Mogga’), began his football journey in the under 10s at Dernancourt Primary School. By the end of primary school, he was a part of the under 12 ‘special squad’ at Norwood and he credits his development there for his selection in 1983 in the SAPSASA* State Team.

In 1984, Morris began his senior schooling in year 8 at Prince Alfred College (PAC). Throughout that time, he played A grade football there on Saturdays and continued through the Norwood special squads at Norwood, playing with them on Sundays. Whilst at PAC, Morris played in teams featuring many football and sporting identities of the future, including Scott Russell (Sturt and Collingwood), Chris Thredgold (North and Sturt), Brad Sheldrick (Norwood, Sturt and the Eagles), Jason Bastian (Sturt) and Greg Blewett (SA and Australian cricketer).

The PAC “Chronicle” (yearbook) described him in 1987 as “a young man who disciplined his natural free-running game to play a key role in defence and across centre. A determined direct approach supports sound basic skills in a player of potential.” The following year (1988), he was described as “a strong and versatile player both in attack and in defence. Paul has been one of the team’s most consistent performers for the past two years.” Morris was awarded football colours in 1988, in recognition of his service and play.

In 1990, Morris played under 19s for Norwood but after doing the senior pre-season in 1991, he didn’t make the final squad and in 1991 and 1992, he played for the Prince Alfred College Old Collegians in the SA Amateur League. At the end of the 1992 season, his then coach Rick Davies (former Sturt, Hawthorn and SA champion) rang Norwood’s coach Neil Craig and suggested that Norwood give him another preseason, which led to Morris playing the 1993-1994 senior seasons.

In 1993, Morris won the Reserves best and fairest award and made his debut for the club in round 1 of 1994. However, Morris would only play one more league game for the club that year. In 1995, he again did a full pre-season but following injury and not being able to force his way into the league side, he transferred to Woodville West-Torrens mid-season in 1995, where he played two league games that year.

The years 1995 and 1996 were the beginning of a football transition for Morris. He combined his SANFL football at the Eagles with time spent playing and coaching at the Meningie Football Club.

From 1997 to 2007, Morris played for the CMS Crows Football Club (a merger of the Curramulka, Minlaton & Stansbury football clubs), also as playing coach in 2001. In 1998 he won the Mail Medal for the Yorke Peninsula Football League playing for the CMS Crows, and he was a premiership player in both 1999 and 2003.

When contacted for this profile, Morris said that “the best years of my football career at senior level were with Norwood and I have very fond memories of that time. Norwood was a great club to be involved with”.

Away from football, Morris married a country lady and in 2002 began working in the wine industry, where for a time he had his own label “Paul Morris Wines”. At the time of writing, he lives on the Yorke Peninsula with his family and works in Stevedoring, loading grain on ships for export.

* South Australian Primary Schools Amateur Sports Association

C. Brown, D. Cox, July 2025