"The Pirates [versus] Kaierau thing, hopefully that's dead and buried and we move on.
"They physically outplayed us, we had three-four niggling injuries but that's no excuse the players selected didn't perform to their standards.
"Myself and the players hate to lose more than we like to win."
No8 Lasa Ulukuta will be back to start after coming off the bench last week because he had been away at a Wellington meeting, while first-five Denning Tyrell should have recovered from his dislocated finger.
However, representative flanker Faalafi Vave is still out with concussion, while back Lee Ashford has a hamstring injury.
"Going on Tuesday training, and it was a nice training, hopefully it's got through to them there's no easy game if you want to be top four," said Morris.
"There's a long way to go the weather will turn colder, all teams have got injuries."
After three straight weeks of facing top-four teams, which has seen them slump from fourth to distant sixth, the last thing Marist coach Jason Hamlin wanted was to catch Pirates on the rebound.
"It's not the greatest position to be in," he said. "We're definitely seeing where there's a top four, as well as Ratana but they're out, and we're probably on par with the other sides."
Having lost to Ruapehu, Taihape and Border by similar margins, Hamlin said his young team were guilty of not playing a lot of rugby themselves, instead watching and reacting to what their opposition would do.
Therefore Kaierau had set an example with their "brilliant" win that team have scored more points than the other bottom-five sides, admittedly while also conceeding the most, because of a willingness to at least chance their arm.
"Use that as an example for our boys, [because] if we play well we can actually compete," said Hamlin.
"I think sometimes not all the boys think that, though."
It would be easy to chalk up that mental hurdle to Marist's youth an under-21 front row and teenagers in key backline positions but Hamlin said those players often brought the most exuberance.
It was just the mistakes from inexperience that came with it.
Tomorrow, midfield back Sam Monaghan is out with suspected concussion while his brother Tom has a shin injury, and a family funeral up the river may mean others are absent.
In the big match in the region, defending champions Ruapehu have a tough trip to Memorial Park to face a Taihape outfit hunting some history.
While depleted in bench resources, the core of the Taihape team has improved in the past two seasons but they have yet to claim a win over a fellow top-four team.
In a round in which Kaierau beat Pirates and Ratana accounted for both Ruapehu and Border, Taihape showed they were close in their losses to Pirates (24-18) and and Border (34-31).
"We played better than Waverley, we played most of the game better than Pirates," said Taihape coach Kerry Whale last Saturday.
"Accuracy is our evil."
In the other games, Kaierau will want to keep their new-found momentum going at home to Speirs Food Marton, while Harvey Round Motors Ratana will defend the Grand Hotel Challenge Shield at the Pa against Utiku Old Boys.
