IT ONLY took one game for former Western Bulldogs captain Luke Darcy to realise that Dale Morris was going to play a lot of AFL football.

Darcy recalls Morris coming off the rookie list to debut in round five, 2005, and hold one of the competition's biggest stars to just eight possessions.

"He completely shut Adelaide champion Andrew McLeod out of the game," Darcy told AFL.com.au.

"We just had this ferocious competitor with an amazing aerobic capacity.

"We knew he was going to be a gun."

While Morris looks back fondly on the game and "an elbow in the ribs" introduction from Mark Ricciuto, his days of curbing playmakers were few.

Morris, by necessity, quickly evolved into one of the best key defenders in the game, despite standing just 190cm tall.

"I don't think any of us saw of him as a 200-game key defender with the ability to play on Nick Riewoldt and the gun key forwards of the game," Darcy said.

"And he needed to be, because we didn't have too many options back then.

"But we certainly saw how tough and competitive he was from day one."

And it's those encounters with Riewoldt that Morris rates as his most challenging and satisfying.
"They are the battles that stick in the mind because they were in prelims and you always knew you were in for a tough contest," he said.

"And even someone like Matthew Pavlich, because you're always in the game, and if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best."

That attitude has seen him rated amongst the game's finest, with Morris representing Australia in International Rules in his first AFL season and then earning All Australian honours in 2008.

But in a surprising quirk, the scrupulously fair 32-year-old hasn't been a darling of the umpires, polling only one Brownlow vote across 199 games.

" Yeah, I've got just one and I remember that because I happened to be playing on Riewoldt that game," Morris laughed.

"My role is team orientated and doesn't stand out to umpires and spectators, but it's what my teammates think of me that I value most."

Morris has had his fair share of serious injuries, including a horrific broken leg in 2011 and torn pectoral muscle earlier this season.

But it's his resilience to overcome setbacks and his team first approach that have made him one of the most respected figures at Whitten Oval.

"Eternally, he's rated extremely highly and he's one of those guys no one would say a bad word about," Darcy said.

"He's always carried himself with great integrity from the moment he debuted until this very day."

And as he enters the twilight of his impressive career, Morris has come full circle as a player, with Geelong playmakers Steve Johnson and Steven Motlop likely opponents in his milestone match on Saturday.

"I was willing do anything early days and I'm still willing to do anything for the team," Morris said.

"I'll do whatever it takes to play with these boys, because we have an exciting future and I want to be a part of it."