‘I rung Gary Hetherington and he said they couldn’t afford me’ – Super League great admits he wanted Leeds return

Adrian Morley is one of the best British forwards in the game’s history especially in the modern history of the game.

He made his name at Leeds Rhinos before showing the wider rugby league world his quality with an amazing stint in the NRL with Sydney Roosters.

In 2005, he had the chance to make a short term move to Super League like Andrew Johns did going to Warrington Wolves.

Morley ended up signing for the Bradford Bulls but revealed on the Out of Your League Podcast that he tried to rejoin Leeds.

“It was because I still felt affiliated with Leeds and before I went to the NRL Leeds’ arch-enemy was Bradford Bulls and I used to despise the Bulls.

“They were the bad boys and we had some great ding dongs with Leeds and Bradford. I remember it broke the Super League attendance a couple of times, once at Headingley and once at Odsal.

“I remember Brian Noble rang me up and said he wanted to sign me for the Bulls so I rang Gary Hetherington saying ‘I’ve had this offer but I want to come back to the Rhinos, I can’t see myself playing for them.’

“Gary being Gary said ‘we can’t give you any money’ and he shut the door really so I signed for Bradford, but to be fair to Bradford they couldn’t do enough in terms of looking after me.”

He went on to win the Grand Final with the Bulls against Leeds.

On this, he said: “It was strange but I’m still pleased I did it and I’m still thankful for the opportunity and I wouldn’t change anything. But out of all the things I’ve won that’s probably my least favourite accolade, only because I’d not been with the Bradford boys all year and I just came in and jumped on the bandwagon at the end.”