For 12 long seasons Dale Morris has toiled away on the backline for the Western Bulldogs in the hope of landing an AFL premiership.
The 33-year-old finally got his reward on Saturday when the Bulldogs wrapped up their first flag since 1954.
You have to go all the way back to his days in the Werribee seconds for his last premiership run.
At the time, he was just a fresh-faced young man out of the Doutta Stars, but now he is a veteran leader of a Bulldogs’ defence that kept a Lance Franklin-led Sydney Swans’ forward line to just 10 goals.
“It’s pretty crazy isn’t it,” Morris said of the premiership.
“Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable … I’m lost for words.
“I’m so proud of these boys, this club, everyone involved.”
Morris is one of the most admired footballers in the league.
Literally, no task is too big or too small as he takes on some of the best forwards in the league – some who are short and quick, others big and strong.
He always plays his game hard, but fair.
And his loyalty to the Bulldogs since he was picked up in the 2005 rookie draft has endeared himself to club supporters.
Morris has seen his fair share of ups and downs in 12 seasons at the kennel, but one constant at the Bulldogs has been his dependability.
His coaches – firstly Rodney Eade, Brendan McCartney and now Luke Beveridge – would surely not bother about a magnet on the whiteboard for Morris.
They’d just simply use a permanent marker to write ‘D.Morris’ in one position on the backline, and then worry about the other 21 spots.
Looking back on all the failed finals’ attempts, Morris is disappointed for his former teammates, who never had the chance to taste victory on grand final day.
“The lists we had back then were just as good as the list we have right now,” he said. “We came across some very tough teams at the time, and just couldn’t get the job done.
“I still keep in contact with those boys back then … we were close, we were very close and we were very disappointed we couldn’t go all the way then.”
What has kept Morris at the Bulldogs is a stern belief that a premiership medallion was attainable.
No matter what side the Bulldogs started out with in a season, or the eventual outcome, Morris went into the next season believing they had a chance to break the premiership drought.
“Every year I come into the season believing we can do anything,” Morris said.
“Every year, it’s no different.
“Next year will be the same thing.
“To be able to fulfil that now is just incredible.”
