The 21-year-old lost mother Dayne to cancer in March, after his father, Keith, became ill and died at the end of 2012.
Morris and sister Marlia (22) still live in the family home in Dunedin and credit family and friends for helping them through the hard times.
''We're not too bad,'' Morris said.
''Most of our family are here, so we have got a lot of support from family and friends. But it's been hard.''
Rugby has also helped Morris get by, most recently playing for North Otago in the Heartland Championship.
The talented midfielder is a member of Otago's ITM Cup wider training squad, but Otago coach Cory Brown made him and and fellow squad member Sam Sturgess available to play for the Old Golds to get game time.
Morris helped North Otago win four of its eight games and sneak into the semifinals of the Lochore Cup.
The team will play top-qualifier Horowhenua-Kapiti in Levin tomorrow, a rematch of the round-robin clash last month, which the North Island side won 26-22.
''It was a close game last time,'' Morris said.
''But I reckon if we play like we did last week we should get the win.''
He is talking about North Otago's final regular season match against Mid Canterbury last weekend, when his side came storming back in the second half but was beaten 39-36 in a thriller.
Morris, who scored one of the 10 tries in the match, travels to Oamaru every Tuesday and Thursday night to train with the team.
The midfielder first started attracting notice after leaving Bayfield High School to spend his final two years of secondary school at Otago Boys' High School, in 2011.
He flourished in the school's First XV, scoring a staggering 35 tries in 2012, including the sole try in the team's 31-5 loss to St Kentigern College in the final of the New Zealand secondary schools competition in Auckland.
Morris has been a key member of Harbour in the Dunedin premier club competition the past three seasons, and hopes the team can go further next year than its semifinal appearance the past season.
''My plans are to stick around,'' he said.
''Hopefully, we can go a bit better next year and I give it another crack and try and get into the Otago team. If not, I will see if anywhere else pops up. But I'm just going to keep giving it a good crack.''
Morris is especially appreciative of Harbour's support since March.
The club set up a Givealittle fundraising page following his mother's death, which raised almost $5000 for him and his sister.
Outside rugby, Morris is one year into a building apprenticeship and enjoys surfing and playing touch in his spare time.
