Benji - Tiger for life

[scottie b]

Benji Marshall to become a Tiger for life
GLENN JACKSON

February 24, 2010
The NRL will be given an almost perfect pre-season gift tomorrow with Wests Tigers five-eighth Benji Marshall to sign a lifetime deal with the club.
Marshall, the New Zealand captain, has agreed to a deal which will keep him at the club for six more seasons.
It is almost certain an announcement will be made tomorrow. The club has scheduled a press conference at Taronga Zoo for tomorrow afternoon, one Marshall is due to attend.
Marshall had been contracted until the end of 2011, but the extension will now see him in Tigers colours until the end of 2015. That will take him to the age of 30, which means the likelihood is that the 24-year-old will be a Tiger for life.
Marshall was secured by the club as a 16-year-old through the Tigers’ partnership with Keebra Park High School on the Gold Coast. He made his first-grade debut in 2003, at 18, and led the club to its first premiership in 2005.

The signing would be a massive boost for the Tigers, who recently secured the services of dual international Lote Tuqiri for the next three seasons.
It would also be a significant boost for the NRL, after the well-documented off-field problems last season. Marshall was one of the best players in the competition towards the backend of last season, along with Parramatta superstar Jarryd Hayne, who has coincidently also resigned recently with his club long term, until the end of 2013.

Having those two players on NRL books for so long is a shot in the arm for a code which is bracing for a new threat of an AFL club in western Sydney. The two most popular players in the region have now been locked up for a significant period.

 

[madunit]

that's hardly a life-signing. he'd still have 4 seasons after that, if he's fit and healthy

 

[scottie b]

I think for most players you are 100% correct. However, with Benji's past injury history, I think at 30 he won't neccessarily be an attractive proposition for most clubs. I hope I'm wrong cause, besides the 2 or 3 heart attacks he can give you a game, when he's on there is no player I prefer watching.

Not many 30 year olds go from one NRL club to another. Hopefully this signing may lead other players to re-sign when due and maybe help attract other players

 

[N.C.]

But will he get to keep his pet, Tim Sheens?

 

[hybrid_tiger]

Maybe Sheens will also sign a lifetime deal. :lol:

 

[mxlegend99]

Good on Benji for making such a commitment to his club. With any luck he will stay relatively injury free for you guys over that time. When he's firing he's such a great player to watch... so long as it's not against your team ofcourse. Hopefully the Panthers can get a similar contract out of Michael Jennings.

 

[westie]

Maybe Sheens will also sign a lifetime deal. :lol:

Shouldn't be too long. The old bastard will be dead soon enough.

 

[Borat.]

Great news......now lets sit back and watch him win the Daly M

 

[Bricey]

also reported on foxsports

NRL Premiership

Staying put ... Marshall is set to commit to rugby league. Mark Evans

Benji Marshall set to commit long-term to Wests Tigers

By Steve Jancetic
February 24, 2010
Wests Tigers superstar Benji Marshall is set to sign a long-term deal with the NRL club, putting an end to doubts over his future with the Tigers and rugby league.
A report on the Nine Network - with whom Marshall has a deal to appear on The Footy Show - claimed the New Zealand Test skipper would sign a lifetime deal with the club.

Club officials, who earlier in the day scheduled a press conference for Thursday, refused to comment on the speculation, though it is believed Marshall will re-sign through to the end of the 2015 season.

Such a long deal could be seen by some as a risk for the Tigers given Marshall's poor injury record, but the 24-year-old missed only one game in 2009 to give hope that the worst of his shoulder troubles were behind him.

Speculation all was not right between Marshall and the club surfaced during last year's Four Nations tour, when coach Tim Sheens revealed some factions at the club wanted the playmaker out.

It is believed those factions felt the club had not seen a return on their investment given Marshall's long run with injury when he was limited to just 41 games over three years from 2006-2008.

Marshall also spent the 2008-09 off-season exploring his options in rugby union, even suggesting he could shuffle between the two codes during the year.

Just weeks out from the start of the NRL season, Marshall's signature would be a massive boost for the game, particularly coming on the back of Jarryd Hayne's re-signing with Parramatta last month.

Ive always wondered, who were the factions inside the club that wanted benji out?

 

[N.C.]

I think that's being a bit loose with the truth, really... Moore a case of wondering if he was worth his price-tag - as the article suggests.

 

[Bricey]

Where there is smoke, there is usually fire....

NRL

Praise ... Sheens wouldn't turn his back on Benji. Phil Hillyard

Coach Tim Sheens says several Tigers wanted Benji Marshall gone

By Andrew Webster
October 23, 2009
Australia coach Tim Sheens has dropped a bombshell on the eve of the opening match of the Four Nations tournament against New Zealand, claiming a faction within Wests Tigers wanted Benji Marshall discarded because he was a waste of money.
On the eve of Saturday's showdown against Marshall and the Kiwis in London, Sheens has revealed that key figures who remain at the Tigers did not want the mesmeric 24-year-old to be re-signed.

"There are elements in our club that wanted him gone because of a lack of value for what they saw and what they were paying him," Sheens revealed.

"Which is just ludicrous. He's worth more money to our club even when he wasn't playing. From the point of view of marketing and the number of kids that follow him, it's endless.

"He's changed our club completely."

Sheens would not divulge which elements he was talking about, but it was known earlier this year that the Western Suburbs side of the joint venture did not want to retain Marshall as he weighed up mega deals in European and Japanese rugby.

At the heart of their doubt was a string of shoulder injuries that have plagued the 24-year-old's career in recent seasons and limited his game time.

Despite threatening to take the NRL to court over its refusal to let him take a lucrative rugby union sabbatical, Marshall extended his deal with the Tigers in March until the end of 2011.

"I, more than anyone, have always had a heap of faith in the kid," Sheens said.

"From the point of view of marketing and the number of kids that follow him, it's endless. He's changed our club completely."

Coach and prodigy square off against one another in the opening match of the Four Nations at Twickenham on Saturday morning (EDT) with Marshall looking to continue the white-hot form he displayed after moving from halfback to his customary role of five-eighth.

Yet Sheens said he only aborted the controversial positional change to douse media obsession with the move.

"I thought it would ease the pressure off our club," he said.

"And it did - it got the media off our back."

It will be the second time Sheens and Marshall have squared off from opposing camps, but this time there's no playful trash talk, no tongue-in-cheek threats as preceded the Trans-Tasman Test in May.

"That was a little bit of banter at the time - maybe I shouldn't have said anything," Marshall grinned.

"I've kept training pretty hard, because I want this to be successful. I think this is the fittest I've been in a long time.

"I'm back down to the weight I was in 2005. I'm 85 kilos. I started the season at 91kg.

"I was just trying to put some weight on to get some protection around the shoulders.

"Being lighter, I feel sharper and there's more kick in my step. I feel quicker."

Im not saying that the 2 references are not of similar reasoning, im just wondering who the elements are/were.

 

[bubblesunlimited]

Farah and Benji for life.

That is fantastic news for us.

People bag him because they do not have him.

Thanks Benj.

 

[innsaneink]

A sweetener for the sour to come

 

[DanOz]

A sweetener for the sour to come

Say it isn't so...

I AM happy about Marshall though.

 

[gallagher]

A sweetener for the sour to come

And how sweet that 'sour' be!

 

[Matt23]

Good on him for showing some loyalty, unlike some other players *cough* Thurston *cough*

 

[Titanic]

Never a Balmain and only marginally a Wests fan (except in the Fibro days), Benji's signing is a coup for the Game.

 

[macnaz]

Great news, thanks Benji for your loyalty mate .

 

[nyx]

Great for the club and NRL. Especially off the field

So many times when you ask a young kid why they support the Tigers they just yell back "BENJI!!".

They love him and he's responsible for bringing in a lot of new supporters to the Tigers and League in general.

Congrats to Benji and the club.

I really think he's going to take it to the next level over the the next few years.
Will be exciting to watch!

 

[Reek_Havoc]

How is this bloke worth $500,00 a year. f**k me !!