G
Guest
Guest
Oops, I did it again, says Marshall after his big field goal from halfway GLENN JACKSON
July 12, 2010
WESTS Tigers halfback Benji Marshall believed he was much closer to the posts when he attempted his remarkable 51-metre field goal on Friday night against Gold Coast - most likely the longest in the modern era.
''I didn't even realise I was on halfway until after the game,'' Marshall told the Herald yesterday.
''I thought we were closer.''
Marshall's monster effort from a standing start just before half-time against the Titans proved a match-winner. It was the result of a ritual that the Kiwi international and his club captain, Robbie Farah, have carried out after every ballwork session.
The pair end each field session with a successful field goal.
''Plenty of times it's taken three turns,'' Marshall said. ''We've been doing it all year. I don't really know why. We just can't finish training until one goes over.''
Tigers assistant coach Royce Simmons added: ''They always finish with a good result. It's amazing the number of times they'd be in front and they can't put it over.''
The pair's training ground battle even spilled into last Friday night's encounter. Marshall said Farah had initially wanted to take the one-pointer, but he intervened.
''He was thinking the same thing,'' Marshall said. ''But I said 'give it here'. That's why he wasn't at dummy half - he was going to take it. He told me to go to dummy half but I said, 'No, I want it'. Thankfully it went over.''
His coaches would also have been asking questions had it not glanced the crossbar and dropped over. Simmons said he had radioed to Tigers football manager Alan Mair that the playmakers should take the option on the previous set, when they had been in a better position for the field goal.
''That was the play I meant them to kick it on,'' Simmons said. ''When we got the ball back, we were right back on the other side of the halfway line, and I thought there was no chance of a field goal. I was just thinking, I hoped we had a good chase because I thought there was no way he could kick it from 50.''
Tigers coach Tim Sheens has been placing more emphasis on field-goal drills this season as a result of the number of close matches, including golden-point games, the side has been involved in during previous years.
Somewhat curiously, Marshall was yet to kick a field goal until this season. His effort against the Titans was his third this year. ''The sound's something I'll never forget, the strike,'' said Mair, who was standing near Marshall at the time. ''It just made a different sound.''
League historian David Middleton said he had not seen a bigger field goal in the history of the NRL.
''Certainly not,'' Middleton said. ''It's interesting that it came just two days after Darren Lockyer's field goal [a 46-metre effort for Queensland in State of Origin III], which is one of the biggest I've seen.''
One of the greatest drop goals ever seen in rugby league came off the boot of Englishman Joe Lydon, in a Challenge Cup clash between his Wigan side and Warrington in 1989\. Just don't ask Marshall to do it again. ''If you ask me to do 10 at training, I probably wouldn't even get one,'' Marshall said.
July 12, 2010
WESTS Tigers halfback Benji Marshall believed he was much closer to the posts when he attempted his remarkable 51-metre field goal on Friday night against Gold Coast - most likely the longest in the modern era.
''I didn't even realise I was on halfway until after the game,'' Marshall told the Herald yesterday.
''I thought we were closer.''
Marshall's monster effort from a standing start just before half-time against the Titans proved a match-winner. It was the result of a ritual that the Kiwi international and his club captain, Robbie Farah, have carried out after every ballwork session.
The pair end each field session with a successful field goal.
''Plenty of times it's taken three turns,'' Marshall said. ''We've been doing it all year. I don't really know why. We just can't finish training until one goes over.''
Tigers assistant coach Royce Simmons added: ''They always finish with a good result. It's amazing the number of times they'd be in front and they can't put it over.''
The pair's training ground battle even spilled into last Friday night's encounter. Marshall said Farah had initially wanted to take the one-pointer, but he intervened.
''He was thinking the same thing,'' Marshall said. ''But I said 'give it here'. That's why he wasn't at dummy half - he was going to take it. He told me to go to dummy half but I said, 'No, I want it'. Thankfully it went over.''
His coaches would also have been asking questions had it not glanced the crossbar and dropped over. Simmons said he had radioed to Tigers football manager Alan Mair that the playmakers should take the option on the previous set, when they had been in a better position for the field goal.
''That was the play I meant them to kick it on,'' Simmons said. ''When we got the ball back, we were right back on the other side of the halfway line, and I thought there was no chance of a field goal. I was just thinking, I hoped we had a good chase because I thought there was no way he could kick it from 50.''
Tigers coach Tim Sheens has been placing more emphasis on field-goal drills this season as a result of the number of close matches, including golden-point games, the side has been involved in during previous years.
Somewhat curiously, Marshall was yet to kick a field goal until this season. His effort against the Titans was his third this year. ''The sound's something I'll never forget, the strike,'' said Mair, who was standing near Marshall at the time. ''It just made a different sound.''
League historian David Middleton said he had not seen a bigger field goal in the history of the NRL.
''Certainly not,'' Middleton said. ''It's interesting that it came just two days after Darren Lockyer's field goal [a 46-metre effort for Queensland in State of Origin III], which is one of the biggest I've seen.''
One of the greatest drop goals ever seen in rugby league came off the boot of Englishman Joe Lydon, in a Challenge Cup clash between his Wigan side and Warrington in 1989\. Just don't ask Marshall to do it again. ''If you ask me to do 10 at training, I probably wouldn't even get one,'' Marshall said.
