Benji: try being loyal to your sport

[gronkathon]

Tauber

 

[ek999]

For years Benji and that f**king old grub merkin Tauber have pulled the Rubgy Union will pay me X dollars and really want me.

The club finally has the talent coming through and a coach and acting CEO with enough balls to say "good for you but this is what we are offering"

Now the crypt keeper has a whinge about loyalty and the NRL not helping out.

f**k off the pair of you.

I am sick of the pathetic circus that his career is denigrating in to.

PS: Take that metal skulled mongoloid Moltzen with you

The funniest thing for me is how he sooked to get Moltzen re-signed by the club and now a year later he himself is pissing off

 

[DIMEAST]

Benji's style of play only works well behind a good forward pack, and excels behind a dominant forward pack, but the last couple of years the Tigers forward pack has been close to the worst performing in the competition.

He his not a traditional organising half and I think trying to make him into something he's not has taken away his special creativity and left him as a below-par halfback.

 

[gronkathon]

The reality is though he wanted to be paid organising, controlling footballer money.

Even behind a monster pack at his peak he is a 500k player. Too many errors and never learns from them

 

[macnaz]

It's interesting to see the the public's perception of this whole saga.

Benji was promised a new deal when the salary cap rose but because there was a new CEO at the club the deal was no longer on the table.

Could you imagine if it was the other way around and Benji had agreed to a deal with the Tigers but retracted because he had a new manager?

I have to say if my workplace did that to me I'd probably become a bit disillusioned too and it'd quickly become a place I'd no longer want to work at. Purely on principle.

FMD!! The deal in his contract was a pay rise and it WAS f**kING HONOURED! ! Why cant people understand the simple facts .The extension was just meaningless unofficial verball BS by a single person at the club that can not even be verified.

 

[betcats]

Similar to Penrith moving on Jennings and Lewis, I think the tigers will be better off footballwise without Benji.

Its hard for a new coach to exbalish the culture etc he wants if the established stars won't buy in. If he wasnt such a good marketing tool I think he would of been released as soon as he requested it.

Woods will become a leader(already is) and they have some other senior players(Anasta, Fulton etc) which should be able to provide good leadership for the young guys we keep hearing about, and the young guys just might provide the spark to get the team moving in the right direction again.

 

[super_coach]

The more I read the more I think in a few years time their will be only one winner in this saga and will not be Benji.

I think Mayer and Potter have made a great call and the club will go forward and start to climb the ladder and be a real force in a few years, as for Benji, it will be Benji who???

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

For years Benji and that f**king old grub merkin Tauber have pulled the Rubgy Union will pay me X dollars and really want me.

The club finally has the talent coming through and a coach and acting CEO with enough balls to say "good for you but this is what we are offering"

Now the crypt keeper has a whinge about loyalty and the NRL not helping out.

f**k off the pair of you.

I am sick of the pathetic circus that his career is denigrating in to.

PS: Take that metal skulled mongoloid Moltzen with you

More please.

 

[gronkathon]

Similar to Penrith moving on Jennings and Lewis, I think the tigers will be better off footballwise without Benji.

Its hard for a new coach to exbalish the culture etc he wants if the established stars won't buy in. If he wasnt such a good marketing tool I think he would of been released as soon as he requested it.

Woods will become a leader(already is) and they have some other senior players(Anasta, Fulton etc) which should be able to provide good leadership for the young guys we keep hearing about, and the young guys just might provide the spark to get the team moving in the right direction again.

We are very lucky in the respect that as fans we have the Penrith example to look towards.

There will be rough times ahead but the club will come out the other side and we wont be paying people massive money they are not actually worth

 

[Different kind of Rabbit]

Benji hasn't been a top class footballer for a long time.

His biggest weapon was his ability to beat a man point blank with that amazing step. Once he put that step away (several years ago now), he became a mere mortal. There are only so many times that other teams will fall for you skipping across the defensive line and hitting a straight runner with a flick pass. Once thats worked out, Benji becomes a liability. If the straight runner is covered he goes to the plan B no look cutout which, more often than not, has gone sailing over the touch line recently.

His kicking game is not that flash, his goal kicking is average and he will not take the line on anymore. The only upside to his game nowadays is his backing up. He is also reasonably good in broken play.

He will of course, carve it up in Union. If you can catch a ball, you are a superstar in that game.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Yeah, no way he'll play for the AB's.

I really doubt he'll be all that good for our sevens team. They need to be very, very fit.

Come off it. Sevens fitness is easily attainable. If American football players can walk into the Eagles team then Benji can get himself in shape for the New Zealand sevens team.

I love how everyone talks about sevens these days as if it's the holy grail of athleticism and tactical nous. If 15s players can jump into the sevens circuit without experience or training then a league player would have no problem making the switch.

 

[kmav23]

Clubs tell players who have contracts to pisss off all the time. Go find another club.

 

[M2D2]

I dont know why so many people (like the OP) are gunning for the guy.
I think this is a good thing for both parties.

 

[Meth]

Come off it. Sevens fitness is easily attainable. If American football players can walk into the Eagles team then Benji can get himself in shape for the New Zealand sevens team.

I love how everyone talks about sevens these days as if it's the holy grail of athleticism and tactical nous. If 15s players can jump into the sevens circuit without experience or training then a league player would have no problem making the switch.

I hate sevens personally. I never watch it. I just know Tietjens demands a pretty high standard of fitness.

 

[eozsmiles]

If Benji wants an unconditional release and won't budge on that, then he might just end up staying. That would be funny.

The WT will probably want a clause in the release saying he can't join another NRL club. If Benji doesn't like that (or any other clause the WT want) then he can stay. And vice versa. As many people have pointed out, he has a nice contract for the next 2 years, and if either club or player don't like the terms of release then the deal will stand. Asking for a release is only the first step.

The NRL are already talking about how to recruit/keep the marquee players. Benji might be one of the first they move on. He will get offers from footy clubs and if the NRL "top up" the deal it will be a tidy package. The NRL have always loved Benji from a marketing point of view. They don't want him playing another code. They may yet step in and top up his deal with the Tigers.

I won't believe he is playing rugby until he signs.

 

[CC_Roosters]

For his skillset I can't see him being very successful in attempting to be an elite union player. Rather I think he will end up in japan and in the lucrative but anonymous union sevens circuit

On his potential release, good riddance. His attitude and manager leaking to the press has been a poison to the wests tigers club culture so they will be better for it. In hindsight its pretty obvious he has had his eye on this for a few years, remember it was he and his manager who caused a fuss a couple of years back about stints in japan between seasons.

 

[Usain Bolt]

I think Marshall will sign with the Waratahs, isn't his wife a big Sydney socialite? doubt she'd wanna leave

 

[R2Coupe]

I have many great memories of his play for the WTs and consider him to be one of our best. It is a win win for both sides under the circumstances and I can't fathom the anger directed towards him. We just need to accept it and move on.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Any grown man with a name like Benji should be taken out the back and shot.

 

[CC_Roosters]

Just watched an interview with some rugby bloke called Horan on fox sports news. He mentioned the wallabies in the same sentence as benji marshall. Surely somewhere along the line they must have noticed he is in fact a kiwi and one who has captained his country