joe_s_magpies
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DID you see Benji Marshall against the Eels on Sunday, bobbing and weaving like a cork in the ocean to score that try before half-time?
You need a heady mix of supreme self-confidence and arrogance to do something like that.
The same is required if you are sitting in the witness box at Downing Centre Local Court, as the defendant in an assault case, for an indictable offence that could land you in the Big House, yet you still have the stones to roll out a smart-arse line.
"Is it your job to be physical and to go out on the field to hurt people?" Police prosecutor Sgt Rick Mansley asked the Wests Tigers five-eighth.
The quick-draw reply: "No, it's my job to make the outside backs look good." Kaboom!
While the remark cracked up most of the courtroom it is exactly that type of smugness that polarises opinion when it comes to Benjamin Quentin Marshall.
He was later acquitted of the charges, having pleaded not guilty to assaulting Soliman Naimey outside of McDonald's in George St on March 5 this year but in the court of public opinion the jury is still out.
Marshall is a cocky little character on the field and that is OK because every playmaker worth his black designer sunnies needs to feel bulletproof. If you don't have that mojo, you struggle. Just ask Jamie Soward.
Surprisingly, though, Marshall oozed the same self-assuredness when it came to his big day in court with his freedom - not the game - on the line.
At times he appeared to deliver his testimony like he was deflecting tricky questions from reporters in the rooms after a game.
Sgt Mansley asked him if he "wouldn't have gotten offended by Mr Naimey saying to you something like [Darren] Lockyer's better than you?" "Why would I?" Marshall snapped. "He's my hero."
When asked by his own barrister Geoff Bellew, SC, if he had intended to hurt Naimey, Marshall's response smacked of the type of hubris you might expect from him.
"If I'd wanted to, I would have punched him."
When Bellew asked him about being approached by "patrons" out in public, Benji almost sighed like it was all part of the job.
"Absolutely yes," he said. "It happens every day."
And then, right there on the steps outside court, Marshall delivered a statement and the one-liners just kept on comin'.
"I want to thank the Wests Tigers for their support, the NRL and my teammates that the coach wouldn't let come and sit in court," he said.
"It's been a pretty tough time and I'm very, very pleased with the outcome. Now let's play rugby league."
Whoever advised him that might be a wise thing to say, having just been found not guilty of an assault charge, should come up with better scripts. Like thanking the coach. The one who has stood by him since he was a teenager.
Tim Sheens would've laughed off the comment because he knows Marshall like a son but the public aren't so well versed.
Some of his peers, too.
The Daily Telegraph delivered the news of the not guilty verdict to a few leading players, and when advised of his remarks afterwards they knowingly laughed. "No surprise," said one. "Why would you not just say thank you and get out of there?"
The not guilty verdict is a win for the game because Marshall and the Wests Tigers can now play out the rest of the season unhindered by this episode.
You know McBenji will have the stones for it.
Source😀ailytelegraph.com.au
You need a heady mix of supreme self-confidence and arrogance to do something like that.
The same is required if you are sitting in the witness box at Downing Centre Local Court, as the defendant in an assault case, for an indictable offence that could land you in the Big House, yet you still have the stones to roll out a smart-arse line.
"Is it your job to be physical and to go out on the field to hurt people?" Police prosecutor Sgt Rick Mansley asked the Wests Tigers five-eighth.
The quick-draw reply: "No, it's my job to make the outside backs look good." Kaboom!
While the remark cracked up most of the courtroom it is exactly that type of smugness that polarises opinion when it comes to Benjamin Quentin Marshall.
He was later acquitted of the charges, having pleaded not guilty to assaulting Soliman Naimey outside of McDonald's in George St on March 5 this year but in the court of public opinion the jury is still out.
Marshall is a cocky little character on the field and that is OK because every playmaker worth his black designer sunnies needs to feel bulletproof. If you don't have that mojo, you struggle. Just ask Jamie Soward.
Surprisingly, though, Marshall oozed the same self-assuredness when it came to his big day in court with his freedom - not the game - on the line.
At times he appeared to deliver his testimony like he was deflecting tricky questions from reporters in the rooms after a game.
Sgt Mansley asked him if he "wouldn't have gotten offended by Mr Naimey saying to you something like [Darren] Lockyer's better than you?" "Why would I?" Marshall snapped. "He's my hero."
When asked by his own barrister Geoff Bellew, SC, if he had intended to hurt Naimey, Marshall's response smacked of the type of hubris you might expect from him.
"If I'd wanted to, I would have punched him."
When Bellew asked him about being approached by "patrons" out in public, Benji almost sighed like it was all part of the job.
"Absolutely yes," he said. "It happens every day."
And then, right there on the steps outside court, Marshall delivered a statement and the one-liners just kept on comin'.
"I want to thank the Wests Tigers for their support, the NRL and my teammates that the coach wouldn't let come and sit in court," he said.
"It's been a pretty tough time and I'm very, very pleased with the outcome. Now let's play rugby league."
Whoever advised him that might be a wise thing to say, having just been found not guilty of an assault charge, should come up with better scripts. Like thanking the coach. The one who has stood by him since he was a teenager.
Tim Sheens would've laughed off the comment because he knows Marshall like a son but the public aren't so well versed.
Some of his peers, too.
The Daily Telegraph delivered the news of the not guilty verdict to a few leading players, and when advised of his remarks afterwards they knowingly laughed. "No surprise," said one. "Why would you not just say thank you and get out of there?"
The not guilty verdict is a win for the game because Marshall and the Wests Tigers can now play out the rest of the season unhindered by this episode.
You know McBenji will have the stones for it.
Source😀ailytelegraph.com.au
