BY DAN

Brad Morkos made a decision last week that rugby league was no longer for him.

As reported by everyone, including the Canberra Times, Morkos has decided to quit rugby league, at least for the time being. He’s returning to his home in Wollongong. He’s not the first player in his early 20s to make a decision that the game is not serving him. Some of those come back (like Seb Kris or Chanel Harris-Tevita) but others don’t.

It’s a remarkably mature decision in my view. Morkos had recently been elevated to the top 30, recognition of his claims to be pushing for consideration in first grade. Given the Raiders current depth at centre he was probably an injury or so away from running out in the top side. That he saw that reward and decided it wasn’t for him, at least now, is a sign of a maturity that I wouldn’t have had at 20. It is to be admired. I can’t imagine how hard it was to walk away from something he’s worked his whole life for. It’s a bit sad too, because we’d been watching Morkos grow as a player and were excited as to what he had to offer. A good mix of power and pace, he was a prototypical NRL centre. At just 20 there was more he had to offer. But rugby league isn’t a game to engage in half-heartedly.

There may be outlier voices that raised questions about the club’s welfare approaches but I don’t think that’s a fair assessment of what’s happened here. We’d all prefer Brad to want to continue to play footy, and reach his potential with the club. But the facts are he’s felt like he was in a safe and understanding enough environment to raise his views and walk away without fear. It’s not hard to see that a less perfect environment might have seen him sticking out a contract until decisions were effectively made for him, less and less satisfied with his situation, with the likely impacts on his mental health obvious. He’s felt empowered enough to take a step that suited him. Partly that’s his impressive character, but there’s a part that reflects well on the club.

The immediate upshot for the club will be that they have a spare spot in their top 30. They’re plenty of talent coming through at the positions, and even with a centre-less in their top 30 still have adequate coverage if any of their first-choice options get injured (or other moves like last season’s shift of Seb Kris from centre occur again). The Simi Sasagi deal becomes increasingly prescient.

On a recruitment front I don’t think it alters their plans drastically. CEO Don Furner had recently spoken about how the club had maintained flexibility in some of the deals at the edge of their roster to allow them to adjust and adapt if opportunities came through. Someone like Morkos was likely on a deal that could be moved outside the top 30 if an opportunity (like a Cowboys backrower, or Ethan Sanders) became available. Now he’s not there at all it won’t change the waiting game they appear to be playing on those fronts.

We wish Brad nothing but the best, both for what he’s done at the club, and the decision he’s made.

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