Recency bias has affected quite a few opinions.
Jury is still out for mine.
The aspects that people like about Benji are the reason I think he’s in the wrong role.
If he was the head of the football department, running recruitment and being the face of the club I’d be happier.
I think it’s fair to say that judging Benji Marshall’s coaching ability is more complex than just looking at the last couple of wins. The point about recency bias is valid – two wins don’t suddenly prove a coach is the finished article. However, if you step back and look at the broader context, his work and development appears a bit more layered.
One of the biggest challenges Benji has faced this season was being forced to reconfigure the halves combination mid-flight after Galvin’s defection to the Dogs. That sort of disruption would derail most sides, particularly one still in the middle of a rebuild. You can argue that he had made a poor decision on Galvin in the first place and also that the style he allowed him to play was stifling our attack. There was definitely blame to be laid at the feet of Marshall as the coach. Having said that, despite such a dramatic shakeup our Tigpies have managed to stabilise. The pairing Luai and Latu/AD has settled the spine – Luai has been able to dictate tempo while AD/Latu has taken pressure off him with a more direct running game. That balance didn’t exist earlier in the year.
The progression is most obvious when you compare the start of the season to the past two rounds. Our halves were unsettled, our sets lacked fluency, and we were reactive rather than proactive in attack. Fast forward to the recent wins and you can see the difference: against Manly, the edges looked dangerous with more structured plays combined with ad-lib footy. Against the Dogs Luai worked over Critta and deliberately bougth Sam F back inside to attack Galvin, demonstrating a deliberate plan to exploit specific weaknesses. These aren’t flukes – they’re patterns being coached into the side.
Another important point is that Benji hasn’t tried to completely overhaul the team overnight. His approach has been incremental – slowly tightening up defensive structures, giving the outside backs more clarity in their roles, and encouraging the forwards to play more direct around the ruck. We have been getting quicker play-the-balls, which has created momentum through the middle and allowed the halves to play on the front foot. We are also seeing a more controlled ruck, albeit the weather and opposition quality has assisted recently. It has been a grind, but the fluency we’re seeing now is the reward for sticking with the process.
Experience is always going to be a topic of debate with a Marshall, but the squad hasn’t splintered despite the big personalities and difficult situations. In fact, the way the players have responded to Galvingate, despite the losing stretch, shows that they have bought into the plan. This suggests that he has the playing group behind him. It’s not perfect, but there’s enough there to suggest he’s learning and growing into the role rather than being overwhelmed by it.
I’ve always been on the fence about Benji’s coaching ability, but I’m starting to lean towards seeing him as a long-term project with plenty of upside. If the club, and we, stay patient, I think we might just see those incremental changes evolve into a side that can genuinely compete year in, year out.
