Benji , thanks for the memories. Who will ever forget the magic of 2005….a premiership that most wests & tigers supporters thought would never happen. Then there was 2010 & 2011....close but no cigar but geez we played some football when we wanted to.
In saying all of that it has also become very evident that father time eventually catch's up with everyone. No player is bigger than the game or the club. Coaches & players come and go, and like a cold winter that settles in and freezes one to the bone, having you at the club is just not the same anymore.
The Benji we once knew who could light up a game, win a game was no longer there. Instead a player who was maybe carrying an injury but no longer had that invincibility about him. A player who doubted himself and seemed to no longer really enjoy playing the game was the bloke we saw run around the field each week.....in between running around telling people the club wouldn't sign him up for 5 years, running off to hawaii/bali or wherever it was and signing with the auckland blues.
If its one thing that never changes is the need to move on, to regenerate, a rebirth.....you are moving on and the team needs to move onto various levels of success or failure. Our young halves in brooks and moses appear to be our future moving forward and I will say one thing....if they are only as one quarter as good as you were at your peak...they will be very lucky to have such a career.
You were the ben barba, the shaun johnson, the jonathon thurston, the mr razzle dazzle before any of those guys were really heard off but its time for you to make way.
Thanks for the memories & Good bye and Good luck Benji.
In saying all of that it has also become very evident that father time eventually catch's up with everyone. No player is bigger than the game or the club. Coaches & players come and go, and like a cold winter that settles in and freezes one to the bone, having you at the club is just not the same anymore.
The Benji we once knew who could light up a game, win a game was no longer there. Instead a player who was maybe carrying an injury but no longer had that invincibility about him. A player who doubted himself and seemed to no longer really enjoy playing the game was the bloke we saw run around the field each week.....in between running around telling people the club wouldn't sign him up for 5 years, running off to hawaii/bali or wherever it was and signing with the auckland blues.
If its one thing that never changes is the need to move on, to regenerate, a rebirth.....you are moving on and the team needs to move onto various levels of success or failure. Our young halves in brooks and moses appear to be our future moving forward and I will say one thing....if they are only as one quarter as good as you were at your peak...they will be very lucky to have such a career.
You were the ben barba, the shaun johnson, the jonathon thurston, the mr razzle dazzle before any of those guys were really heard off but its time for you to make way.
Thanks for the memories & Good bye and Good luck Benji.
