Almanac Rugby League: Farewell Benji Marshall

 

At the ripe old age of 36 years and 224 days, Benji Marshall has announced his retirement after 16 years at the top level of the code. A highly skilled and instinctive player, Benji played 31 Tests and 5 World Cup games for New Zealand, appeared in 4 All Stars matches and clocked up 346 NRL matches for Wests Tigers, St George Illawarra Dragons, Brisbane Broncos and, finally, South Sydney Rabbitohs. Debuting in First Grade while still at school, Benji won a premiership with Wests Tigers as a 20-year-old in 2005 and the Golden Boot Award in 2010.

 

For some, Benji is possibly know only for ‘that pass’ in the 2005 Grand Final, yet that split second encapsulated so much of what Marshall brought to the game. It was intuitive, outrageous, skilful, magnificent – and match-winning! Go to YouTube and watch Gus and Joey break down the whole play to see Benji’s array of skills in action in the lead-up to the pass – positional play, acceleration, spatial awareness, change of direction, strength, fend, teamwork – all in about 10 seconds. Genius! It’s a piece of poetry.

 

Marshall will now move on to a career in rugby league media with Fox Sports.

 

To read Wayne Bennett’s tribute to Benji Marshall (on nrl.com) click here.

 

To see a statistical review of Benji’s career click here.

 

Finally, savour a reel of Benji magic:

 

 

Farewell, Benji, and thanks for the memories.

 

To return to our Footy Almanac home page click HERE.

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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