Benji Admits Form Slump
7 May, 2013 by Sportal
Out-of-sorts Wests Tigers star Benji Marshall has revealed he's 'gone back to the drawing board' in a bid to bust out of his worrying form slump in Friday's must-win clash against Cronulla.
The Kiwi international admits he's been well below his best in six games for the last-placed Tigers this season.
He missed two matches with a toe injury and was clearly still troubled by the torn ligament in his big toe in his return match against Canterbury last week.
But the 28-year-old, who is expected to sign a lucrative contract extension in the coming days, says his toe is not to blame for his lacklustre start to 2013.
"Even before the injury I wasn't happy with where I was at," Marshall said.
"My major job in the team is to provide attack and provide direction for the team and I think that's one of my strengths, but this year it just hasn't happened."
"I didn't really know what to put it down to so I went back to the drawing board this week, had a chat to the coach and I think my strength's my running game and I just haven't been doing that.
**"So I'm going to go back to just being myself and relax and just get back to running the ball."**
Pressed on the reason for the demise of his famous running game, Marshall replied: "I think when you actually become a ball player over time you get into a habit where start believing you're a ball player more than a runner and I feel that's sort of happened a bit, so I want to go back to being a runner first and then ball-play after that.
"Instead of worrying about putting everyone else over I want to start scoring some tries."
Marshall added when asked if his toe, which he injured in Round 5 against Melbourne, is still bothering him: "It's the weirdest injury out. The major ligament in the big toe is just torn … there's also a bone in there that I've torn off with the ligament but that's healed now.
"There's just a bit of residual soreness around the toe and the way they strap it sort of restricts the amount of spring you have in your toe and I've also got these special orthotics which stop you from flexing your toe, so it's a bit awkward but that's what I have to do to play."
Meanwhile, Marshall concedes facing former team-mates and close friends Beau Ryan and Chris Heighington for the first time on Friday night will feel strange.
"To be honest it's going to be awkward, I haven't played against either of them before," he said.
"Beau rang me up earlier in the week and told me he's going to take my head off so I said, 'ok, good luck'.
"It'll be alright, obviously it was a big loss for the team losing a few of those boys but we've got jobs to do for our team-mates and for me it's not about what they do, it's about what I do."
7 May, 2013 by Sportal
Out-of-sorts Wests Tigers star Benji Marshall has revealed he's 'gone back to the drawing board' in a bid to bust out of his worrying form slump in Friday's must-win clash against Cronulla.
The Kiwi international admits he's been well below his best in six games for the last-placed Tigers this season.
He missed two matches with a toe injury and was clearly still troubled by the torn ligament in his big toe in his return match against Canterbury last week.
But the 28-year-old, who is expected to sign a lucrative contract extension in the coming days, says his toe is not to blame for his lacklustre start to 2013.
"Even before the injury I wasn't happy with where I was at," Marshall said.
"My major job in the team is to provide attack and provide direction for the team and I think that's one of my strengths, but this year it just hasn't happened."
"I didn't really know what to put it down to so I went back to the drawing board this week, had a chat to the coach and I think my strength's my running game and I just haven't been doing that.
**"So I'm going to go back to just being myself and relax and just get back to running the ball."**
Pressed on the reason for the demise of his famous running game, Marshall replied: "I think when you actually become a ball player over time you get into a habit where start believing you're a ball player more than a runner and I feel that's sort of happened a bit, so I want to go back to being a runner first and then ball-play after that.
"Instead of worrying about putting everyone else over I want to start scoring some tries."
Marshall added when asked if his toe, which he injured in Round 5 against Melbourne, is still bothering him: "It's the weirdest injury out. The major ligament in the big toe is just torn … there's also a bone in there that I've torn off with the ligament but that's healed now.
"There's just a bit of residual soreness around the toe and the way they strap it sort of restricts the amount of spring you have in your toe and I've also got these special orthotics which stop you from flexing your toe, so it's a bit awkward but that's what I have to do to play."
Meanwhile, Marshall concedes facing former team-mates and close friends Beau Ryan and Chris Heighington for the first time on Friday night will feel strange.
"To be honest it's going to be awkward, I haven't played against either of them before," he said.
"Beau rang me up earlier in the week and told me he's going to take my head off so I said, 'ok, good luck'.
"It'll be alright, obviously it was a big loss for the team losing a few of those boys but we've got jobs to do for our team-mates and for me it's not about what they do, it's about what I do."
