A FRANK conversation with new North Melbourne assistant Rhyce Shaw has discarded Roo Alex Morgan hopeful of a rookie lifeline at Arden Street.
Fresh from returning from a self-funded trip to Utah with former teammates, the 22-year-old continues to train with the Roos in the possibility of a reprieve at next week's NAB AFL Rookie Draft.
After nine days away training at the US Ski team facilities and hiking in Park City, Morgan resumed training alongside ex-teammates last Monday.
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"There's no guarantees, it's fair to say (I'm) in limbo at the moment," Morgan told AFL.com.au.
"I've just met Rhyce Shaw who's our new defensive coach and speaking to him about it he's been really good.
"He's just said, it's a three-week period to train and it allows you to focus on a couple of key areas.
"I'm just backing my run and carry and things that make me a good player.
"I've had good feedback so far, so I'm looking to focus on the next two weeks."
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Told of his delisting on October 23 following two senior matches this season, Morgan quickly booked flights to the US before jetting out on October 27.
Morgan joined current Roos Paul Ahern, Cameron Zurhaar, Declan Watson and Sam Durdin, as well as former Roo Braydon Preuss, who is now a Demon, for his first stint at the high-altitude camp.
Arriving at the Roos as a delisted free agent at the end of last year, Morgan missed the opportunity to travel with the rest of the North Melbourne squad.
"I was in the dark whether or not to book it because I obviously didn't want to book it if I wasn't going to be here next year," Morgan said.
"Once they told me there was an opportunity to train and hopefully get rookie listed, that's when I booked it the next day.
"Working at that high altitude, we ran every second day and hiked every other day to get the load in."
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With the trip in the pipeline for some time, Morgan said the group of Roos enjoyed some light-hearted ribbing of Preuss after his trade to Melbourne.
"It was pretty funny, he was wearing his North socks on a couple of hikes so we gave him a bit of flak for that," Morgan said.
"It's going to be a really worthwhile experience for him as well."
Morgan said he was over a string of injuries that had hampered his time at AFL level, including hamstring and quad setbacks (2016 and 2017) and a calf problem sustained in his second game this year.
Morgan was selected at pick 29 in the 2015 NAB AFL Draft by Essendon.
