Premiership Pedigree: Craig Morriss Returns to Coaching to Lead TLU Sharks’ 2026 Charge

In short

• The New Duo: 2017 premiership-winning coach Craig Morriss returns to the Group 20 sidelines to co-coach the TLU Sharks alongside debutant mentor Cody Collins.
• The Strategy: The Sharks will utilise a bench-and-field leadership model, with Collins leading on-park and Morriss providing tactical oversight from the sidelines.
• The Goal: After several seasons outside the top five, the club is eyeing a 2026 finals return with a squad primarily built on local talent.

TLU Sharks 2026 coaching duo - Cody Collins (left) and Craig Morriss.

A new era will begin at Tullibigeal-Lakes United this season after Craig Morriss and Cody Collins were announced as the club’s 2026 first grade coaches last week.

The pair replace Nathan Morris, who will remain at the club as a player this season after two seasons in the top job.

Morriss said that it was a conversation with his almost-namesake Morris that sealed a return to coaching in the local competition with the Sharks alongside Collins this year.

“I was just speaking to Nathan Morris one day about footy and how his club was going, and he just asked if I had any spare time and was interested in coming out and helping out Cody, who will be in his first year of coaching,” he said.

“So, I thought, ‘yeah, not’, it’s a pretty strong club out there and a strong community, it’d be good to see them start working their way back up the ladder with what they’ve got out there, so it was a good way to get back on the horse of footy coaching again I suppose, [after] not doing it for a couple of years.”

A proven first grade mentor, Morriss has a premiership title to his name dating back to the 2017 season, when he led the Griffith Black and Whites to their first title in 19 years.

After handing the reins to club stalwart Andrew Lavaka following that triumph, Morriss has kept a low profile since, assisting his successor when needed and also helping with the region’s representative team.

“I was assistant to Aaron Gorrell there for a couple of years with the Riverina team, and that’s about it,” he said.

“I’ve helped out a few times with Black and Whites with Andrew while he was there every now and again, just going to a training run, but that’s about it really.

“So I’ve had a pretty good break, just doing little bits and pieces, just going and helping out with some junior clubs and stuff every now and then.”

One interesting part of the coaching team will be the dynamic between the playing coach in Collins and non-playing leader in Morriss.

The formula is becoming more and more popular in bush footy, with Leeton’s Shan Bradbrook and Michael Thomas and Waratahs duo Willie Lolohea and Brett Goldspink also running with a similar setup in recent years.

In fact, Morriss' greatest Group 20 success came working under the structure, working alongside playing mentor Andrew Lavaka as co-coaches in the Black & Whites' aforementioned 2017 triumph.

Morriss said that he is approaching the role with the idea of acting as a sounding board and source of advice for Collins as he prepares to take charge of the team for the first time.

“It will be good, I’m sort of there just to offer advice I suppose and support him in what he does, but he’s a really good young fella and he’s keen as mustard, and he’s a 100 percent boots and all in sort of fella,” he said.

“He’ll be the main driver there and I’ll be in the background supporting him, and helping him out where I can.”

In addition to offering advice, Morriss believes that the flexibility of having an on-field leader who can make a direct impact, as well as a sideline eye who can run the bench is also a beneficial model on game day.

“He’ll be fairly busy on the field, concentrating on getting the team around the park, so obviously to have someone on the bench who is watching the game from a different lens, and making those changes when they’re needed, and picking out areas we need to play on or whatever, is pretty handy for an on-field coach, so I think it works out pretty well,” he said.

“Most clubs have got that sort of setup at the moment, where they’ve got the coach and they’ve got someone running their bench and looking at those things when they’re involved in the game.”

The Sharks have been one of the battlers this decade in Group 20, failing to qualify for the finals since the cancelled pandemic seasons, despite being around the top five for periods in many of those years.

Morriss said that with the squad the club has and the leadership of figures such as Collins, former coach Morris and veterans such as Jaden Kelly, he believes the club is well-placed to make a return to finals football should things go right this year.

“I think if things go to plan injury wise and everything else like every other club I suppose, you definitely think you’ll want to be in the mix for the finals,” he said.

“We had our first training run Friday night, got quite a few people there, I think the side won’t be much different to last year, predominantly all local fellas, and they’re all keen to go.

“We can iron a few things out and adjust our game plan and stuff to suit what we’ve got and we’ll see how we go.”

TLU’s season will begin with a clash against Hay at Leeton on the weekend of April 11-12 as part of Group 20’s Magic Round.