Benji Marshall reveals reasons he quit Super Rugby for NRL return
Date April 24, 2014 - 12:35AM
Liam Napier
Benji Marshall needed just 16 minutes to sum up his three-and-a-half hour rugby career on Wednesday.
During that time, sat alongside Blues coach John Kirwan at Eden Park, Marshall detailed how difficult he found altering the instinctive abilities that projected him to stardom in a coveted 12-year league career.
With honest self-assessment, Marshall said he never fully appreciated the major technical differences between rugby and league, or how hard his transition straight to the big time would be.
Throughout his turbulent time at the Blues, Marshall harboured doubts about his ability and, when under pressure, he resorted back to what he knew best.
“The reality is the age I tried to do it means it wasn’t easy at all,” he said. “I couldn’t change those habits. That’s a big part of why I struggled on the field.”
With his 30th birthday approaching next year, Marshall felt he didn’t have the time to see out his two-year contract and work on his game at the lower levels, a pathway Kirwan suggested to him in a private meeting last weekend.
“It probably wasn’t the right age to do it,” he said.
“I could have gone on down the club rugby path and tried to change my habits and be as good as I can be. But the reality of it all is I was finding it hard to change my habits from league. A lot of those habits are quite lateral. Rugby you have to be square. I was finding that quite difficult, especially at 10.
“We don’t have that time and we both weren’t getting what we wanted out of this deal and that’s a major factor in how it’s got to where we are today.”
Marshall’s decision wasn’t straightforward. Over the past two days while lawyers worked through confidential figures of a severance agreement, he didn’t leave his house. For the first time in his life, he had to accept failure.
“I think we’re pretty courageous to stand up and say 'this hasn’t worked',” he said. “As a stubborn person and someone who wants to succeed in everything I do, this is the first time I’ve had to say I haven’t been good enough. That’s a pretty hard thing to do.”
The former Kiwis captain feels the move has made him a better person, allowing a fresh perspective on life and a renewed hunger to make a successful return to league.
“We’re not leaving on a negative note or with a sour taste we’re just accepting it didn’t work.”
The Cronulla Sharks are firming as favourites for his signature. Former club Wests Tigers, who have ruled out taking Marshall back, are demanding compensation should he break his word and play against them this season.
Marshall’s desire is to return to Sydney but he has not yet spoken to the Sharks.
“It’s funny how I can join the Sharks without talking to them,” he said. “I’ve got nowhere to go at the moment. I want to play in the highest competition. A lot of my family and friends are back in Sydney. Until I speak to clubs or know who is interested in a 29-year-old washout rugby player, we’ll have to wait and see.”
Kirwan claimed he would change “nothing” about the way he handled Marshall’s time at the franchise but did accept the significant investment had failed.
“For me it’s a Michael Jordan moment,” he said. “Both parties showed incredible courage to try something different and it didn’t work out.
“I’ll take the responsibility for having a go at something, sure. If you don’t have a go you’re not going to know.”
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew conceded Marshall’s immediate release had set a dangerous precedent but denied other players would be able to exploit it.
“There’s no denying we’ve set a precedent because we’ve let a player go for the first time in a competition,” Tew said.
“I’m comfortable the terms of the agreement protect us for any future players who request to leave in the middle of the competition.
“There’s no point of having contracts if people can break them easily, but the threshold to get a yes is very high.”
