Backstage with Cooper & Matty Johns
Josh Morris | Part 2 | Pranks, Grand Finals & Des Hasler
21 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is Josh Morris's favorite prank story from the Footy Show?
What about, because I was telling Dad one of my favorite pranks. I think I brought this up to you on the Continuous Call team the other day. When you did the footy show and you did the old prank, it was almost like at a surf club, public toilet, and you said, I bet you I can watch this, and you ran into a toilet, and one second later, Brett was at the other end, and he ran out that side.
Because you did a fair bit of that prank stuff on the footy show.
Yeah, no, that was probably one of the only times we did it. But that bloke, he was absolutely rattled. Like I said, do you want to see a magic trick? I'll go in this door and come out that door. So I was sprinting down there, but I had to make sure I made the slap against the wall loud enough so Brett could hear it.
So I've ran as hard as I could and slapped the wall and then he's come out the other side. The bloke was just like... looking around going, oh, no, and then we got this other bloke in the Cronulla Mall as well. He would have been about 65 or 70. I've walked up to him and asked for directions to the train station. He's gone, oh, it's just down that way, mate. I said, oh, yeah, no worries. Thanks.
Walked off and then he's walked 20 metres and then Brett's popped out in front of him and gone, hey, mate, do you know directions? Mate, he was just as rattled too and then like I've kind of popped out because otherwise he would have been like, I'm losing my mind. He would have thought he was in the Matrix. Yeah. So, no, there weren't too many pranks we played on each other.
Like, I thought about doing it, going back to the Dragons and playing a prank here and there, but a lot of those boys we grew up with as well, so they knew us as well. And then, like, whenever Brett got a bye or something like that, he'd come up and stay at my house and we'd go out with the boys. So a lot of the boys knew each of us from the different clubs.
Okay, so what you see a lot of the time is the older brother generally looks after the younger brother. Sometimes it's proven that the younger brother is more laissez-faire and more reactive. The older brother worries more about the future. And I see that with Joey and I, and I see it with Jack and Cooper. Who was born first? You were born first.
Does that trait, do you think, exist with you guys? It doesn't.
No, I reckon he ā especially on those kangaroo tours because I was an emu for all three of them. Oh, yeah, great. And he was my roommate for all three of them. So he used to ā like I used to go out and come home and he'd be playing on the Saturday. I'd get home at like 3 a.m.,
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Chapter 2: How does the twin dynamic influence Josh and Brett Morris's lives?
But you played some interesting clubs, first of all. So you finish at the Roosters and you've got the Sharks, two great clubs. The first two clubs you played for are really like ā Massive clubs. Not that the other two aren't, but what I mean is massive clubs is the amount of passion with their supporters. You know, and in good times, things are unbelievable. In bad times, things are awful.
So you start at the Dragons, then you go to the Bulldogs. Like... Can you give us an idea of that, playing for those really big, passionate fans?
Yeah, I think, yeah, you're right. They are similar fan bases in the fact that they expect success and when they don't get it, they are very, very vocal about it. I still remember playing for the Dragons and a number of times the fans giving it to us when we were behind the goal line and
um and then when you're winning like they're they're so proud of you and the the pats on the back come but um it's similar to the the dogs as well but um yeah the dogs had a lot of a lot of tough times for a while there and then um I came along in 09. They'd just won the Wooden Spoon, and they brought about six or seven of us across.
There was myself, Mick Ennis, Ben Hunter, Michael Hodgson was there, David Stagg, Greg Eastwood, a lot of family blokes. Yep. I was probably ā and Brett Camorley was there too, sorry. Yeah, right. So there were a lot of family blokes there. They were trying to get the family club vibe going, and then I was probably the youngest. But Kevin Moore had just taken over from folks here as coach.
He was the one that got me there. He wanted me to play centre. And he goes, I'm going to give you 50 games at centre. I'm not going to drop you. I think you're a centre. He said that. He said that. And that kind of gave me confidence in myself as well. But we played this really different style of football. It was a very attacking style of football. Yeah, yeah.
A lot of drop lines, a lot of movement, a lot of second phase. And off the back of that, like I had Ben Roberts as my half. He probably had a career best year that year and I was on the outside of him. I think I scored about 22 or 23 tries that year.
It was a very interesting style.
That was probably the most enjoyable year of football I ever had. Gotcha. And then off the back of that, we had a couple of years where we probably didn't succeed and underachieved and then that's when Des came in. Yeah, gotcha. And then from that moment on, we went from being, you know, a professional club to ultra professional. Yeah, gotcha.
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Chapter 3: What were the memorable moments from Ben Barba's 2012 season?
Justin O'Neill had scored. And it was so interesting when he broke it down. It was like, mate, you only get a certain amount of opportunities in big games, so you need to pre-plan something.
I love that from Billy because people get there and go, oh, mate, you don't need tricks to win grand finals. Yeah, you do sometimes. 2014, it was another grand final. Were you 2014 against South? Yeah. 2014. Yeah. One of the things I love about when I used to play with some players, how they get themselves up emotionally and it lifts everybody else. James Graham.
In that game where he grabs Billy and does the Vlad the Impaler, just takes it, bites. What was he like in the sheds for the game? How high did he used to get? Yeah.
He'd have the smelling salts and then just eyes would be rolling in the back of his head and he'd say, boys, I'm going to go out there and try and commit murder. Who's coming with me? I'm going to leave nothing out. And, you know, there's plays like that. I imagine Adrian Morley was just as crazy. It must just be an Englishman thing. Yeah, the northerners. Yeah, like he led by his actions, Gemma.
And, you know, whenever there was always a chase back, he'd always be in the frame as well. Like he just never gave up and... He was willing to put his head in places where most people weren't. Oh, man.
Had he already won a grand final in the Super League?
He'd won one early on, I think, and then he lost about six or seven in a row. Yeah, he did. And he finished his career winning one.
Because even that 2014 grand final, you talk about the start where he breaks Sam Bird's cheekbone as well. Yeah, didn't hit him hard enough.
He said that initially the plan was going to be kick away from Sam. Apparently he said to Dez, no, no, I want to get some action on.
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Chapter 4: How did Josh Morris's time at the Dragons shape his career?
Mate, it was tough. I'm not going to lie. I had a job to do, but I took that responsibility with great pride as well. And I've said it, I said it to Joey actually, like I remember going on a kangaroo tour and just warming up with him and doing the pummeling and he was strolling me around like a rag doll. I'm like... all right, I need to get in the gym.
I need to get so much stronger to take this beast on. And, like, I would do some weird stuff in the gym. Like, I'd be throwing weights around. They're like, well, what are you lifting that heavy for? I said, well, this is what he weighs. If I can throw this around, it gives me confidence to go out there and throw him around as well. But, like, I knew that.
I had to shut his time down wherever I could. So it wasn't about kind of watching him. It was about watching, you know, Billy and JT and Cam and them trying to tip him up to getting the ball. And on that pass, just getting as close as I could to him to try and get that fend before it got to me chest. I mean, he got me with it a fair few times, but...
If I could do a job on him and try and eliminate the damage on him, it would go a long way to us winning as well. So that was a contest I really enjoyed. And, yeah, like he'll go down. He'll probably be an immortal one day. Incredible, man.
Some of the things he did in origin. Yeah.
And he was a New South Walesman too, so that made it. Yeah.
I mean, the battle to new human origin was always good. I felt like it was always quite like you were one of the centers that could sort of like get him off his game a little bit. But I'm trying to remember the center. Paul, it might have been one of GI's first ā he was playing on the left side, one of his first origins. And they give him early ball. It might have been Kingy, Matt King.
No, it was Gaz. Mark Gaz. Mark Gaz now.
Drew Gaz often jumped over.
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