Dale Morris (born 29 December 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the ...

in the Australian Football League (AFL). Morris spent four years playing for

Werribee Football Club The Werribee Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club, based in Werribee. The club was formed in 1964 and currently plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It is the western-most Melbourne-based VFL club as ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

before being added to the Bulldogs' rookie list in the 2004 Rookie Draft. He quickly cemented his place in the Western Bulldogs' lineup, impressing many with his pace and consistency as a defender, and finished with 17 games for season 2005. He was elevated to the senior list at the end of 2005. Morris was selected in the

back pocket In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...

of the 2008 All-Australian team. Morris played in guernsey number 38 for the duration of his career. In Round 21, 2011, against the Essendon Bombers, Morris suffered a broken tibia in his lower right leg which prematurely ended his season. Morris returned to play one quarter in a Development Match game in Round 6, 2012, but suffered a stress fracture in the same leg which he broke in horrific circumstances in 2011. The injury sidelined Morris for the rest of the season. Morris made his return to AFL in Round 1, 2013. In what was overall a successful campaign for Morris, he provided defensive solidity to the Bulldog's back line, and also managed to play all 22 games for the season. In 2016, Morris was a part of the Western Bulldogs premiership team that ended their long-standing premiership drought of 62 years. With over five minutes to go in the match, Morris laid a game-turning tackle on Sydney Swans forward

Lance Franklin Lance Franklin (born 30 January 1987), also known as Buddy Franklin, is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Hawthorn Football Club from ...

, which set up Tom Boyd to kick a goal that gave the Bulldogs a 15-point lead. After the game, it was revealed that Morris had played the entire finals series with a fractured vertebrae. Morris is known for his quick recovery from injury. He suffered a partial tear in his ACL in 2018 yet came back to play the back-end of the 2018 season. In 2019, he suffered another ACL, and was out of action until Round 19, where he rupture his ACL for the third time in 18 months. Prior to the 2019 final series, Morris announced his retirement after 253 games.

Statistics

: , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, , 38 , , 17 , , 0 , , 1 , , 56 , , 107 , , 163 , , 48 , , 43 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 3.3 , , 6.3 , , 9.6 , , 2.8 , , 2.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2006 , , 38 , , 24 , , 1 , , 3 , , 127 , , 170 , , 297 , , 104 , , 56 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 5.3 , , 7.1 , , 12.4 , , 4.3 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, , 38 , , 21 , , 0 , , 1 , , 135 , , 126 , , 261 , , 101 , , 56 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.4 , , 6.0 , , 12.4 , , 4.8 , , 2.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

, , 38 , , 25 , , 0 , , 0 , , 156 , , 170 , , 326 , , 120 , , 73 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.2 , , 6.8 , , 13.0 , , 4.8 , , 2.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , 38 , , 25 , , 1 , , 2 , , 115 , , 187 , , 302 , , 123 , , 59 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 4.6 , , 7.5 , , 12.1 , , 4.9 , , 2.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, , 38 , , 21 , , 0 , , 1 , , 111 , , 141 , , 252 , , 73 , , 62 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.3 , , 6.7 , , 12.0 , , 3.5 , , 3.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2011 , , 38 , , 18 , , 1 , , 0 , , 127 , , 100 , , 227 , , 80 , , 70 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 7.1 , , 5.6 , , 12.6 , , 4.4 , , 3.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, , 38 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

, , 38 , , 22 , , 0 , , 0 , , 122 , , 133 , , 255 , , 83 , , 51 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.5 , , 6.0 , , 11.6 , , 3.8 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, , 38 , , 20 , , 0 , , 0 , , 119 , , 108 , , 227 , , 82 , , 47 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 6.0 , , 5.4 , , 11.4 , , 4.1 , , 2.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

, , 38 , , 14 , , 0 , , 0 , , 70 , , 85 , , 155 , , 69 , , 35 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.0 , , 6.1 , , 11.1 , , 4.9 , , 2.5 , - , scope=row bgcolor=F0E68C , 2016^# , , 38 , , 23 , , 0 , , 2 , , 129 , , 178 , , 307 , , 104 , , 54 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 5.6 , , 7.7 , , 13.3 , , 4.5 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , 38 , , 11 , , 0 , , 0 , , 38 , , 74 , , 112 , , 34 , , 24 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.4 , , 6.7 , , 10.2 , , 3.1 , , 2.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , 38 , , 11 , , 0 , , 1 , , 49 , , 70 , , 119 , , 39 , , 23 , , 0.0 , , 0.1 , , 4.5 , , 6.4 , , 10.8 , , 3.5 , , 2.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, , 38 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 3 , , 3 , , 6 , , 2 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 3.0 , , 3.0 , , 6.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 253 ! 3 ! 11 ! 1357 ! 1652 ! 3009 ! 1062 ! 653 ! 0.0 ! 0.0 ! 5.4 ! 6.5 ! 11.9 ! 4.2 ! 2.6

Honours and achievements

*Team **

AFL premiership This page is a complete chronological listing of VFL/AFL premiers. The Australian Football League (AFL), known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990, is the elite national competition in men's Australian rules football. The inaug ...

: 2016 ** Pre-season premiership player: 2010 *Individual ** Doug Hawkins Medal: 2016 ** John Van Groningen Domestique Award: 2016 **

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led by ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Dale Western Bulldogs players Western Bulldogs Premiership players 1982 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) All-Australians (AFL) Doutta Stars Football Club players Werribee Football Club players Australia international rules football team players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players