It’s understood Channel 9 bosses are looking at whether to pull the trigger on the clause which would block Morris’ move to their main rival for up to six months.
Morris, 34, is currently on leave and contracted to Nine until December 31.
Last week the network’s chief football reporter informed Nine that he was defecting to Seven in a move which is set to dramatically shake up the media landscape.
There is a precedent here with Nine digging their heels in with Caroline Wilson last year when she quit Footy Classified to join Seven’s The Agenda Setters.
Wilson wasn’t allowed to be part of the advertising for the new Seven show and was virtually out-of-sight for months until right before its launch on the eve of the 2025 season.
There is a similar anger among Nine’s Sydney hierarchy about losing another important asset to Seven.
The lure of working on cricket, which is Morris’ first love, and on AFL game day broadcast was the major selling point.
He was pitched the move by Seven’s sport boss Chris Jones and SEN CEO Craig Hutchison with the former housemates joining forces on the Morris deal, a complex one involving both parties.
The pair came through the ranks together 25 years ago and they’ve quickly become the most influential players on the media scene after Jones was promoted to head of network sport at Seven in July last year.
With a mandate to spice up Seven’s AFL coverage, Jones and Hutchison cooked up a deal which saw the three most influential figures on Nine’s long-running football show Footy Classified jump ship.
Outspoken commentator Kane Cornes was the No. 1 target and he was made the face of Seven’s AFL coverage with Hutchison and Wilson later following to launch The Agenda Setters.
And now the landing of Morris is another major body blow given he wasn’t just Nine’s chief newsbreaker, he was a regular panellist on Footy Classified and hosted the Footy Furnace show on Sunday nights.
He has been at the network for two years after initially being given a career lifeline by Hutchison at SEN.
Morris made headlines for all the wrong reasons in March 2022 when he was sacked from Fox Sports after a recording of him making misogynistic comments about a female colleague was leaked online.
His sacking in the opening week of the AFL season was one of the biggest scandals of the year.
Morris copped an extraordinary personal attack from Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge in a post-game press conference after the season opener over a team selection story Morris reported.
Beveridge apologised the following day, but the exchange was overshadowed by the leaking of the offensive Morris audio.
Morris went away and completed several education programs concerning sexism, racism and other social issues over the next 12 months before Hutchison reached out and gave him a spot as co-host of SEN’s Sunday Crunch Time in March 2023.
His appetite for news-breaking soon shone out at SEN and he won the AFL media’s top honour, the Alf Brown Award, for revealing Damien Hardwick mid-season resignation from Richmond.
He was then signed as Nine’s chief football reporter in November 2023.
Where Morris fits into the Seven newsroom is a question many are asking.
While the majority of his role is focused on the game-day broadcasts and shows, he will feature in the nightly news for breaking stories.
This is where things will get interesting with Mitch Cleary, Seven’s outstanding chief football reporter. Having two bulls in the same pen is a recipe for trouble.
What does it mean for young gun Xander McGuire who has come in as Cleary’s No. 2? And then there is Theo Doropoulos and Kate Massey.
Over at Nine, they have already started easing AFL Media draft guru Cal Twomey into a role on Footy Classified late in the season but it’s unlikely he would seek the chief football reporter role. Highly regarded SEN reporter Sam Edmund would be a candidate.
Originally published as Media Street: Non-compete clause could delay Tom Morris’ stunning move to Channel 7
