Aaron Hardie believes Western Australian tearaway Lance Morris will use the loss of his Cricket Australia contract as a “point of motivation” as he continues his build back to full fitness from major back surgery.
Morris has starred in domestic cricket for Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers in recent years, and has also played three One-Day Internationals while spending time on the fringes of the Test squad. However, his career has been beset by nagging injuries.
On the eve of last season, he opted to undergo a pars stabilisation operation in the hope of addressing long-running issues with his back. After being sidelined for the entirety of the summer, the speedster did not have the national deal he had held for the last three years renewed when the 2026-27 list was released in March.
The surgery undertaken by Morris has a recovery timeframe of up to a full year, with the 28-year-old spending much of last season in the WACA Ground’s gym. Hardie, who has been appointed as the State’s new Sheffield Shield captain, said his great mate looked “as fit as he has ever been”.
“He can’t wait to get out of the gym and back onto the park,” Hardie said. “When you lose your Cricket Australia contract and you’re back on a State contract, naturally, you’ll be a bit disappointed. I know Lance really well. I’m sure he’ll use it as a point of motivation over the next six months, 12 months.
“I certainly don’t see him staying down in domestic cricket for too long. I’ve seen Lance when he’s at his best playing for WA and he’s a class above everyone else with his ability to bowl fast and also be super accurate and economical and take wickets. I know that if Lance gets back to his best, I’d imagine we’ll see him in a baggy green in the not-too-distant future.”
Having been holidaying in South Africa in recent weeks, Morris is expected to return to Perth in the coming days to link up with WA for their pre-season. Hardie said there was no expectation Morris would “go straight from a big back surgery to be bowling 150 (km/h) again” over the next few months.
“He started the process of bowling and then had a bit of a scheduled de-load to be able to go away,” Hardie said. “When he comes back, hopefully, he’ll be mentally fresh and really physically ready to go. I’m sure it’s not going to be a linear path straight back to cricket and being at his very best straight away, but I know Lance himself and everyone at the WACA is doing everything possible to get back to playing as quickly as he can.”
Both Morris and Jhye Richardson have returned to State deals after losing their CA contracts, but Hardie said the pair’s quality meant he would not bank on having them at his disposal for too much of the shield season. “One thing that everyone’s aware of in world cricket now is that you can get called for any team at any point,” he said. “In my opinion, they’re not far off playing for Australia. At any moment, they could get a call-up and be playing white-ball or red-ball cricket.
“I’m really excited to have Lance back. Jhye’s certainly had his injury problems, so any time we get those two playing for Western Australia, everyone stands a little bit taller, but we also know there’s a lot of people under them who fill their shoes as well, if they get the opportunity.”
