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Key Facts
Full name
Henry Douglas Morgan
Known as
Harry Morgan
Nickname
Shanta
Born
24 March 1889
Place of birth
Irishtown, WA (6401)
Died
23 May 1965 (aged 76)
Place of death
Northam, WA (6401)
Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 25y 32d
Last game: 32y 156d
Height and weight
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 73 kg
Senior clubs
Subiaco; South Melbourne; Footscray; Carlton; West Adelaide
Jumper numbers
South Melbourne: 24, 18
Carlton: 23
Recruited from
Subiaco (1914); South Melbourne (1919); Footscray (1920); Subiaco (1921); Carlton (1922)
State of origin
WA
Harry Morgan
| Club | League | Career span | Games | Goals | Avg | Win % | AKI | AHB | AMK | BV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subiaco | WAFL | 1910-1913, 1920 | 82 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| South Melbourne | V/AFL | 1914-1915, 1917-1918 | 60 | 100 | 1.67 | 63% | — | — | — | 0 |
| Footscray | VFA | 1919 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Carlton | V/AFL | 1921 | 10 | 25 | 2.50 | 80% | — | — | — | 0 |
| West Adelaide | SAFL | 1922 | 5 | 12 | 2.40 | — | — | — | — | — |
| WAFL | 1910-1913, 1920 | 82 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| V/AFL | 1914-1915, 1917-1918, 1921 | 70 | 125 | 1.79 | 66% | — | — | — | 0 | |
| VFA | 1919 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| SAFL | 1922 | 5 | 12 | 2.40 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Total | 1910-1915, 1917-1922 | 157 | 137 | 0.87 | — | — | — | — | — | |
AFL: 2,062nd player to appear, 3,374th most games played, 841st most goals kickedSouth Melbourne: 258th player to appear, 273rd most games played, 66th most goals kickedCarlton: 362nd player to appear, 767th most games played, 269th most goals kicked
Subiaco recruited Harry Morgan locally, and he went on to become a lynch-pin in the club's great pre-World War I sides. Initially used mainly across half back, he won a trophy donated by a club patron in 1910, his second season, for 'the player of the year'. Strong overhead, a fine kick, and extremely elusive, he later developed into a centreman of the highest calibre, in which position he starred when the Maroons won their first ever league premiership in 1912 thanks to a 5.8 (38) to 4.5 (29) Challenge Final defeat of East Fremantle. When the club went back to back the following year, beating Perth in the Challenge Final by two goals, Harry Morgan was a sterling contributor from a half back flank.
In 1914 he transferred to the VFL with South Melbourne where he proved a valuable acquisition. He was a member of the red and whites' losing Challenge Final team against Carlton in 1914, and topped the club's goal kicking list with 48 goals in 1915 and 23 when South resumed in 1917 after a one year hiatus because of the war. After playing 60 VFL games and booting precisely 100 goals with the southerners, Morgan crossed to Footscray in the VFA in 1919 and was instrumental in the club's winning that year's premiership courtesy of an 8.17 (65) to 6.7 (43) Challenge Final victory over North Melbourne.
The 1920 season found him back for one final season with Subiaco, taking his final tally of games with that club to 82, followed by 10 VFL games and 25 goals with Carlton in 1921, and five games and 12 goals in the SANFL with West Adelaide in 1922, making him an extremely widely travelled footballers even by the standards of a generation when the movement of players between the states was arguably at an all-time high. Although he never played full scale state football, Harry Morgan did represent Western Australia twice against visiting interstate club sides.
Author - John Devaney