Career : 1919 - 1921
Debut : Round 1, 1919 vs Fitzroy, aged 25 years, 106 days
Carlton Player No. 337
Games : 18
Goals : 0
Last Game : Round 4, 1921 vs Fitzroy, aged 27 years, 132 days
Guernsey No. 22
Height : 180 cm (5 ft. 11 in.)
Weight : 81 kg (12 stone, 11 lbs.)
DOB : January 16, 1894
In August 1915, 21-year old Morris Ewans kissed his wife Caroline goodbye, and sailed off to play his part in World War 1. Barely weeks later, Able Seaman Ewans of the Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train was supporting British troops who had landed under heavy fire at Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
Following the strategic failure of the campaign, and the successful withdrawal of Allied troops, AB Ewans applied for, and was granted a transfer to the 4th Australian Divisional Artillery, with which he served throughout the bloody campaigns on the Western Front in France and Belgium. Relatively unscathed after more than three years of war, he returned to Australia in July 1918, in time to join in with the huge celebrations that greeted the signing of the Armistice in November.
With the advent of peace at last, Morrie must have looked forward to returning to work as a plumber, and rejoining his local football club; Brunswick Juniors. But sometime early in 1919, he found himself at Princes Park instead, training with the Blues. At the request of Carlton’s rookie coach Viv Valentine, 25 year-old Ewans was selected in a back pocket for the first match of the 1919 season, against Fitzroy at Princes Park in May. The Blues demolished the Maroons by 43 points, and Ewans’ senior career at Carlton got off to a flying start.
He went on to play 11 games in his first year, although he wasn’t included in the team that lost the Semi-Final to Collingwood. In 1920 it was a similar story. Wearing guernsey 22, Morrie managed six more matches in a variety of positions, but missed out on a finals berth as the Blues stayed in flag contention right through to the Preliminary Final. Then in 1921, Morrie’s career at Carlton came to an end almost as it started, with a draw against Fitzroy in round 4. Later that same year, he was back in the black and white stripes of Brunswick, putting his VFL experience to good use again with the Association Magpies.
In 1925, Brunswick claimed just its second VFA Premiership with a gutsy 16-point win over Port Melbourne at the Motordrome, and there was a strong Carlton influence in the result. Five ex-Blues played for the ‘Wicks that Saturday afternoon, with followers Rupe Hiskins, Walter Raleigh and Morrie Ewans, rover Stewart McLatchie and centreman Billy Blackman the engine room of the team. Raleigh led the side as captain-coach.
By then aged 31, Morrie Ewans retired after that long-awaited flag win, and he and Caroline settled at Greensborough. Morrie took up plumbing again, followed Carlton and Brunswick for the rest of his life, and passed away at Parkville in June, 1971.