BENJI Marshall's manager Martin Tauber has dropped a bombshell by declaring he will seek an immediate release from Marshall's contract so he can pursue opportunities in Japanese rugby.Tauber revealed yesterday that he is waiting for the star to return home from pre-season camp with the Wests Tigers before he approaches chief executive Stephen Humphreys about securing a release.Marshall is contracted until the end of 2015 but Tauber, in the wake of the NRL accepting Sonny Bill Williams' return to the game, is keen to explore Marshall's opportunities to earn additional income in the rival code.Tauber first tried to have Marshall playing summers in Japan when he came off contract in 2009 but then NRL chief executive David Gallop immediately rejected it.However Tauber, like several chief executives and player managers contacted yesterday, believes the NRL's registration of Williams has set a precedent other players can pursue, paving the way for a meeting with Humphreys."It is probably something I will raise with the chief executive in the next couple of days, when they come back from their exhaustive camp,'' Tauber said."It's a little bit different this time because Benji is contracted until 2015 so we have to get a release."That's the difficulty. But I want a meeting to say let's talk about it."It's an opportunity for them to earn additional income that would set themselves up financially for the long term.''
BENJI
Source:*The Daily TelegraphWhile the NRL has previously rejected any notion of players moonlighting in rival codes, there is growing belief that future moves to stop players jumping codes in the off-season, given the Williams precedent, might now be a restraint of trade.Leading player manager George Mimis said managers would not be doing their jobs if they did not now consider off-season stints in Japan to top up earnings for their marquee players."It's back on the agenda,'' Mimis said."The cornerstone to representing talent adequately and suitably, one of the touchpoints, is maximising commercial opportunities."It's not the be all and end all, but you would be naive not to think every opportunity is not going to be explored.''Japanese rugby is an enormous financial windfall for players.Clubs pay the players' income tax, meaning all money negotiated is essentially tax free, as well as providing all other major expenses such as rent, car and business-class airfares.Humphreys last night did not want to comment on Tauber's plans, but spoke earlier about the new possibilities raised by the Williams precedent."It does establish possibilities that, I would imagine, some players and managers would want to explore,'' Humphreys said.Tauber said Japan's interest in Marshall was as recent as the start of last year."I did have some pre-emptive talks about 18 months ago and they said they would have enormous interest if he ever comes off contract,'' Tauber said.Another manager, Wayne Beavis, said the precedent had created new opportunities."It's something worth exploring, whether it has got legs is another matter,'' Beavis said."It's certainly achievable but it's basically impractical given everything you've got to go through.''Start of sidebar.*Skip to end of sidebar.Will this mean sayonara, Benji?
