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Ricky Stuart: Benji Marshall must guide the Tigers to victory to cement his legacy
Ricky Stuart
The Sunday Telegraph
March 04, 2012 12:00AM
I WANT to talk about Benji Marshall today but, before I do, I want you to think about the great five-eighths and what they all have in common.
Laurie Daley, Brad Fittler, Darren Lockyer …
Go back a little further and look at the likes of Terry Lamb and Brett Kenny ... or even further still, to Bob Fulton.
Benji Marshall is a marvellous player and one who excites me, as a fan, probably more than any other player in the game.
But things are changing for Marshall.
The Tigers play Cronulla at Leichhardt Oval this afternoon and go into this opening game of the season as premiership favourites.
With favouritism comes expectation and, with expectation, the great ones step up.
When the moment came, all those great five-eighths picked up their teams and put them on their back and carried them to a premiership. (I know some will say Fulton was a centre in Manly's premierships, but he invariably cut loose from the five-eighth position.)
Benji Marshall's time has come. The Tigers have the roster that most believe, this early, is the best in the NRL. It's hard to argue with that, too.
But it is time for Marshall to go to the next level, and take his Tigers with him.
Some will say that Marshall already has a premiership ring on his finger from 2005 - and they are right.
But from a football point of view, most of us know that Benji was young and brilliant back then, still a teenager, and that the bloke steering the team around the paddock was Scott Prince.
That doesn't lessen Marshall's achievement, it's just different.
And now circumstances are different again.
Through attrition and salary-cap pressures, the Tigers have changed their roster fairly dramatically since those days and, through that, Marshall has developed into that key player at the Tigers.
All those players I mentioned above also developed into that main player at their club and led them to premierships.
When their moment came, they delivered.
I don't think my hopes for Marshall this season will concern him too much.
We all know he's a confident player, but more than that I think he is a player that craves that responsibility and challenge, and is even looking for it.
Sometimes, the opportunity finds the man. So now he has to go about it.
The trick for Marshall, and this is where it gets harder for him, is that his natural brilliance that has made him the player he is will not be enough on its own to pick up his team and carry the players with him.
Leaders of men are special people, and often different.
Benji has shown himself to be all that, but almost all his great plays have been individual plays.
That's not enough when it comes time to lead a team.
Daley, Fittler, Lockyer and the rest all recognised that the performance of their team was tied to them. They not only took ownership of their performance of but that of their team-mates as well.
They felt responsible for the performance of other players as much as their own.
I played a lot with Laurie Daley and know that he often left training concerned with something that happened, and often it had nothing to do with how he had performed.
It was more about others within the club. He felt responsible for the morale and quality of the whole team and our performance.
And all this was reflected on game day.
Marshall has all the attributes, beginning with the talent and respect from his team-mates. This is his most important season since he came back from all his shoulder injuries some years back, when his future was questioned.
Now it's his legacy.
Solid, consistent performances for his team will guide the Tigers to the premiership.
In the end, it is what defines the great ones.
Ricky Stuart
The Sunday Telegraph
March 04, 2012 12:00AM
I WANT to talk about Benji Marshall today but, before I do, I want you to think about the great five-eighths and what they all have in common.
Laurie Daley, Brad Fittler, Darren Lockyer …
Go back a little further and look at the likes of Terry Lamb and Brett Kenny ... or even further still, to Bob Fulton.
Benji Marshall is a marvellous player and one who excites me, as a fan, probably more than any other player in the game.
But things are changing for Marshall.
The Tigers play Cronulla at Leichhardt Oval this afternoon and go into this opening game of the season as premiership favourites.
With favouritism comes expectation and, with expectation, the great ones step up.
When the moment came, all those great five-eighths picked up their teams and put them on their back and carried them to a premiership. (I know some will say Fulton was a centre in Manly's premierships, but he invariably cut loose from the five-eighth position.)
Benji Marshall's time has come. The Tigers have the roster that most believe, this early, is the best in the NRL. It's hard to argue with that, too.
But it is time for Marshall to go to the next level, and take his Tigers with him.
Some will say that Marshall already has a premiership ring on his finger from 2005 - and they are right.
But from a football point of view, most of us know that Benji was young and brilliant back then, still a teenager, and that the bloke steering the team around the paddock was Scott Prince.
That doesn't lessen Marshall's achievement, it's just different.
And now circumstances are different again.
Through attrition and salary-cap pressures, the Tigers have changed their roster fairly dramatically since those days and, through that, Marshall has developed into that key player at the Tigers.
All those players I mentioned above also developed into that main player at their club and led them to premierships.
When their moment came, they delivered.
I don't think my hopes for Marshall this season will concern him too much.
We all know he's a confident player, but more than that I think he is a player that craves that responsibility and challenge, and is even looking for it.
Sometimes, the opportunity finds the man. So now he has to go about it.
The trick for Marshall, and this is where it gets harder for him, is that his natural brilliance that has made him the player he is will not be enough on its own to pick up his team and carry the players with him.
Leaders of men are special people, and often different.
Benji has shown himself to be all that, but almost all his great plays have been individual plays.
That's not enough when it comes time to lead a team.
Daley, Fittler, Lockyer and the rest all recognised that the performance of their team was tied to them. They not only took ownership of their performance of but that of their team-mates as well.
They felt responsible for the performance of other players as much as their own.
I played a lot with Laurie Daley and know that he often left training concerned with something that happened, and often it had nothing to do with how he had performed.
It was more about others within the club. He felt responsible for the morale and quality of the whole team and our performance.
And all this was reflected on game day.
Marshall has all the attributes, beginning with the talent and respect from his team-mates. This is his most important season since he came back from all his shoulder injuries some years back, when his future was questioned.
Now it's his legacy.
Solid, consistent performances for his team will guide the Tigers to the premiership.
In the end, it is what defines the great ones.
