Benji Marshall to become a Tiger for life
GLENN JACKSON
February 24, 2010
Lifer … the extension will now see BEnji Marshall in Tigers colours until the end of 2015
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The NRL will be given an almost perfect pre-season gift tomorrow with Wests Tigers five-eighth Benji Marshall to sign a lifetime deal with the club.
Marshall, the New Zealand captain, has agreed to a deal which will keep him at the club for six more seasons.
It is almost certain an announcement will be made tomorrow. The club has scheduled a press conference at Taronga Zoo for tomorrow afternoon, one Marshall is due to attend.
Marshall had been contracted until the end of 2011, but the extension will now see him in Tigers colours until the end of 2015\. That will take him to the age of 30, which means the likelihood is that the 24-year-old will be a Tiger for life.
Marshall was secured by the club as a 16-year-old through the Tigers’ partnership with Keebra Park High School on the Gold Coast. He made his first-grade debut in 2003, at 18, and led the club to its first premiership in 2005.
The signing would be a massive boost for the Tigers, who recently secured the services of dual international Lote Tuqiri for the next three seasons.
It would also be a significant boost for the NRL, after the well-documented off-field problems last season. Marshall was one of the best players in the competition towards the backend of last season, along with Parramatta superstar Jarryd Hayne, who has coincidently also resigned recently with his club long term, until the end of 2013.
Having those two players on NRL books for so long is a shot in the arm for a code which is bracing for a new threat of an AFL club in western Sydney. The two most popular players in the region have now been locked up for a significant period.
