BEING as fearsome as Adrian Morley was on the pitch, it’s perhaps no surprise that he made it in both Super League and the NRL.
With almost 500 career games to his name – and over 100 of them coming in the NRL with the Sydney Roosters – Morley created a reputation for himself as one of the greatest players to ever make it Down Under.
After debuting in 1995 for Leeds, Morley went on to become a cult hero at Headingley before cutting exactly the same figure at Sydney.
But, after registering 149 appearances for the Leeds Rhinos between 1995 and 2000, Morley almost signed for another Super League side instead of going to Australia.
“Wigan they came in for me twice, once when it was announced when I was leaving Leeds,” Morley told League Express.
“Gary Hetherington knew he was going to get a transfer fee for me and he approached Wigan and Maurice Lindsay and said ‘why don’t you make Adrian an offer’ because he knew he would have got a fee for me!
“I did sit down with Wigan and Maurice and to be fair it was a really generous offer but I had made my mind up to go to Australia.”
Wigan didn’t end their interest there, however, and when the formidable forward announced he would be moving back to the UK ahead of the 2007 Super League season, the Warriors came in for Morley once more.
“And when I did come back from Australia it was between Wigan and Warrington about who I would sign for and I chose Warrington.
“So, Wigan was probably the team that I was close to signing for a couple of times.”
Returning to the UK with Warrington, Morley never looked back and went on to make another 173 appearances in Super League.
In his seven-season stint with the Wolves, the Salford-born prop helped guide the Cheshire club to three Challenge Cup successes in just four years.
Following his spell at Warrington, Morley turned out 45 times for Salford Red Devils before hanging up his boots at the end of the 2015 Super League season.
