Cronulla coach John Morris is dealing with a serious shortage in his backline, forcing the club to dig in their heels to stop Josh Morris reuniting with his brother at the Roosters in 2020.
Hampered by hamstring injuries for the past 12 months, Matt Moylan is now dealing with a temperamental calf injury that limits his ability to train and will set his season back weeks.
Morris spent 60 minutes on the park switching between centre and fullback in Sunday night’s NRL trial win over Manly, while custodian Moylan watched from the sidelines.
The club is still trying to find a way to move forward with former Test star Josh Dugan who is dealing with a mysterious knee injury, while rising star Bronson Xerri is also in doubt for round one as he recovers from shoulder surgery.
Xerri is most likely of the three to be fit for round one against South Sydney although the club does not want to rush him back too early with a big season ahead.
It places all the more importance on Morris, with the Roosters still hopeful they can still lure him to the club for this season.
“We’ve got no Moylan, no Xerri, no Dugan, it’s clear that it’s a weakness at the moment as far as available outside backs. (Josh Morris) is a very important player to our squad,” said coach John Morris on Sunday night.
The former Australia and NSW star dodged media after the trial game, although it’s understood he still hopes to be reunited with his twin brother Brett at the Roosters this season.
“The same reasons they want him are the same reasons we don’t want to let him go,” Morris said.
“He’s a quality player and we need him. Just like we lost (Cameron King) last week, we’ve got to deal with that.
“We’ve got to find ways to fill that hole and we’re not going to go out and pull someone in from other clubs.
“We’ve got a bit of adversity and we’ve just got to try and fill it with the players we’ve got within our club.”
Will Kennedy is also an option to fill in at fullback until Moylan returns.
However, Morris will continue to juggle his best options as injury concerns with Xerri, Moylan and Dugan become clearer over the next week.
