Once bitten, twice shy: The Val Holmes theory behind Sharks’ hardball Josh Morris call

If wantaway Sharks back Josh Morris is looking for someone to blame for Cronulla’s refusenik attitude towards his release request, he only has to cast his eyes northwards.

Morris was this week denied the opportunity to leave the Sharks a year early from the expiration of his contract so he could link up with his twin brother Brett at the Roosters.

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He was believed to be “filthy” when Cronulla signed Jesse Ramien in the off-season to link up with Bronson Xerri in the centres, likely forcing Morris out of his favoured position to the wing or fullback.

And with $900,000-a-season star Josh Dugan’s playing future up in the air, Morris was deemed simply too valuable to let go — especially this close to the start of the 2020 season.

But Sharks captain Wade Graham has nominated another individual who has unwittingly contributed to the decision to play hardball with Morris — Valentine Holmes.

“We need to set a culture that if you come to our club, we want you to play, we want you to see out what you signed up for,” Graham told Channel Nine news.

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“We’ve seen in the past with guys like Val leaving, now he’s back in the NRL at North Queensland and we really didn’t gain any favours out of that or any advantages out of that.

“So I think it was a good response from the club and a good response from our coach, John Morris.”

Holmes, a one-time State of Origin and international winger-fullback, quit the sport at the end of 2018 a year before his Sharks contract was due to expire so he could chase a dream in American football.

Over the space of 12 months he managed to earn a spot on the New York Jets’ practice squad, but couldn’t crack the main 53-man roster and eventually decided to return to the NRL with the North Queensland Cowboys.

Then Sharks captain Paul Gallen was furious with Holmes at the time, even calling on the NRL to ban him for two years from returning to the code.

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But Graham said there had been no similar hard feelings involving Morris, despite his dream of reuniting with his brother for one final tilt at a premiership being blocked.

“He hasn’t let it affect his mood or his training,” Graham said. “If he had have come with a bad attitude, I would have gotten into him.”

Both Graham and Morris are in Perth with the Sharks for the NRL Nines, and the pair has often shared a car journey back and forth from training.

It’s left plenty of time for Graham to niggle his mate.

“I told him I was happy to do the player swap – we’ll trade JMozz for BMozz,” he said. “That didn’t go down real well. It was only a joke, it didn’t go down real well with him.”

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