That Guy: The greatest player who never was

Opinion

In the same week that sees the welcome return of All Black Luke McAlister to New Zealand rugby, we also see the return of long-time expat rugby player and renegade 2nd five-eighth Jed Morgan.

Critics of Morgan's transfer to a yet-to-be-disclosed New Zealand club, are saying in unison "he is un-tested" and on a slightly more personal level: "the guy's a loser who is only interested in money, and besides he is too bald and fat".

As most of us recall, Morgan left New Zealand rugby to pursue three club contracts simultaneously in France in 2001.

His agent brokered the deal, a world first, after Morgan said he wanted more money if he was going to take to the field again.

The fact that Morgan was 36 at the time, working in a kebab shop and hadn't really played rugby beyond 3rd XV intermediate school rugby until this point, is probably the most amazing aspect of the transfer.

It certainly highlights what a shrewd operator agent Stevens was, and still is.

By doctoring archive NPC footage with the help of Weta studios, Stevens was able to insert Morgan into many classic tries from that past decade of NPC and Super 14 rugby.

Morgan was quite literally popping up everywhere. In one questionable piece of footage he made an initial break at first five-eighth, later crashed in through the centres, then finished the try off in the corner wearing a different coloured jersey altogether.

In another match, he scored two classic runaway tries, one in each half, and one for each team.

But at the time, such was foreign clubs' eagerness to get their hands on Kiwi players for their teams that they refused to believe that Morgan wasn't the messiah their clubs so desperately needed.

These cash-rich clubs wanted foreign blood to put bums on seats, and perhaps weave the timely magic that would get them from the doldrums into the dizzying heights of the club final that had long eluded them. Morgan was in the right place at the right time.

The fact that Morgan never actually took to the field or even intended on taking the field for any of the clubs he was signed to is perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of one of rugby's longest and most profitable rugby careers.

As he was already in his twilight years and totally unproven on the field, Stevens thought it prudent to shield his client from any actual game time and as much training and team meetings as possible.

This move has extended Morgan's playing career tenfold, making him, at 45, the oldest professional rugby player in the business.

They say a good manager must be able to handle his player's interests on and off the field. Stevens chose to rewrite the book on this by only managing his client off the field - in fact, he spent all his time and resources on nothing but keeping him off the field.

How was he able to do this?

The plan was simple. With the assistance of the doctored footage and some well written testimonials, Stevens sought and got three lucrative playing contracts for Morgan in France. Stevens was careful not to be too greedy with the salary.

Rather, he went heavy on the insurance side of the contract should his client be injured, either physically or psychologically. Stevens then sought a number of doctors based in France who would be "sympathetic" to their needs, and used them to recommend Morgan "sit it out for a few weeks".

The plan worked and it has kept Morgan as the world's best non-playing player at the top of his game for the past eight years.

Stevens, a visionary manager, looked after every last detail and last year even managed to procure a sale to a fourth club mid-season, plus extract breach-of-contract fees running into the millions from his original clubs which, on numerous occasions, had attempted to move him on prematurely.

In his long career he has come close to bankrupting numerous French and Italian rugby clubs, but for legal reasons I am unable to mention their names in this column.

Suffice to say that many of New Zealand's greatest rugby expats would have shared stables with Morgan, although never taken the field with him.

Nobody pushed Morgan out of European rugby - he left when he and Stevens felt it was best.

We will watch his career and those of all the other returning rugby expats with much interest.