Morgan told the inquest Cusack had disclosed her relationship with Riglar at his request to everyone in his team.
Justifying his request, Morgan said: “In the past, relationships have had issues within the environment. People would break up, it would cause scenarios that sort of divided the team’s opinion and make things a bit uncomfortable.”
Cusack’s mother Deborah previously told the inquest that her daughter would have been “absolutely humiliated beyond belief” when Morgan called her girlfriend and teammate Riglar “Mrs Cusack” in front of other players.
However, Morgan told the inquest that “never happened”, adding that he said “here come the girlfriends”.
He said the comment was a “tongue-in-cheek”, which was “meant to be taken as a bit of banter”, and that they had then made a joke about his weight.
The coach was also asked about a comment he had made to Cusack during a meeting.
Morgan said he had told the player she was “too muscular, too bottom-heavy” to carry out the number of sprints needed with his style of football.
He said her strength and conditioning training was then changed, and her running statistics were “much better” by the end of the season.
Morgan said he started to see a difference in Cusack’s behaviour in August 2023.
“She was just less bubbly, less energetic,” he said.
Morgan said he arranged a meeting with Cusack on 4 September, and afterwards contacted the club doctor about her health.
He told the doctor he thought “something was bothering Maddy”, and that she might need some help.
Earlier in the inquest, a former team-mate of Cusack told the court her death was “definitely preventable”.
Nina Wilson said Morgan had left a number of players feeling “ostracised and isolated”.
The inquest continues.
