CNRU Round 17: Darrell Morrison hoping to build more success with Red Devils

That player that you know what you're going to get from.

One of the longest-serving of the current Red Devils side, the 26-year-old was 17 when he burst onto the scene and has been a constant in the backline pretty much ever since.

He was a comparative late bloomer. He didn't play any junior rugby, only getting into the sport in his later years at school - he attended Carinya in Tamworth, travelling over from Gunnedah every day.

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But he had "always been a rugby person" so it was somewhat of a natural progression to the Red Devils.

On the cusp of being part of a second straight minor premiership - a win over Walcha on Saturday will secure it for the Red Devils - it hasn't always been that way.

There were some tough times in those early years.

"When I first started it was quite hard. We were lucky to have 20 people for first and second grade," Morrison reflected.

"To now, we've got 60 people on the books, which makes it a heck of a lot easier."

Predominantly playing on the wing these days, he started out with the Red Devils as a fullback but has played pretty much "everywhere" in the backline over the years.

Away from the footy field, the man they call DJ helps run the family business HE Silos.

Established in 1969 in Hillston by his grand parents Ivan and Patricia as a general engineering business, in the mid-80s the company shifted focus to the construction of grain, and other, silos, in factory and onsite.

Involved more in the installation side of the business, it takes Morrison "all around".

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"We go all down south and all up north," he said.

"We go everywhere."

The Red Devils head into the Rams' clash looking to bounce back after being beaten, and outplayed, by Pirates last round.

Only their second loss of the season, for coach Dan Martin it was very reminiscent of their first.

"It reminded me of Inverell in first round, the boys were asleep," he said.

"As I said to the whole club we might as well have stopped at the Somerton Hotel and had lunch and a few beers."

Not the time of year when you want to be producing performances like that, he felt part of it was that they were "complacent".

It's something that he has, concerningly, sensed creeping in in recent weeks, and they need to quickly get out of their game.

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"Now it's just a mental thing to understand none of these games moving forward we can have that thought process," he said.

They will welcome back three key forwards for Saturday in Rob Hobden, Jono Madden and Tim McDermott.

As they try to work out what the best balance in the backline is, Bevu Tiquri gets his chance to impress. He played a couple of games earlier in the season but due to injury hasn't had a lot of opportunities in first grade since.

Their last home game of the regular season, the players will be donning special jerseys which will be auctioned off after the game in aid of Can Assist.

Elsewhere Inverell travel to Scone while Quirindi host Moree.

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