Why Benji shouldn't be resigned

[stryker]

again… a halfback doesnt control benji's defense, error count, 2nd tackle kicks, bombs that go backwards etc.

he should be a leader of the team... not JUST a 5/8 who touches the ball once a set. no matter what position you play, with whome you play with, inspirational leaders and legends stand out from the arrogant selfish yet talented players- benji is the latter.

he needs to change his attitude before anything else

I dont agree at all.
* He isnt an inspirational leader. That is not his playing style at all. Never has been and never will be.
* His errors are due to the fact that he is forced to try and become the savior of the side when platforms havent been laid nor domination established. It is only when these two elements have been acheived that he can exploit the oppositions weaknesses…again - as he always has done.
* He shouldnt do any kicking. He is a runner. He needs someone to take these duties from him.
* I will give you the point that his defence has been aweful this year and last. I am not sure why as he can do it. He isnt a strong defender but has proven over the years that he can be somewhat reliable and even manages to put on hits sometimes.

He does need a halfback and if we dont sign one, nothing will change. I will say it till I'm blue in the face...we need to poach an experienced, organising half and that should be priority number one.

 

[pHyR3]

stryker; we dont need to buy one we have Braith. He is an organiser. captained the Roosters and he is a long kicker. decent foil for Benji and not to mention the duo of moses and brooks which is coming up. I wanna see Braith back up his performance against Storm though; was good there but who knows. Let's buy some mongrel in the forwards and a centre. Reddy offers us nothing, neither does Lawrence and Ayshfords not too great at getting over the line either but he can make handy metres.

 

[liltiger]

at least not for four years anyway

Two years. No more.

He'll be a good player in four years time, sure, but if he's one of our two best players over that period we won't win anything. The year we did win he was nowhere near our best, despite how the media remembers it. In the big games over the years since, when he's had to be the man, it hasn't happened. I'm not talking field goals against Cronulla or Newcastle, I'm talking regular season games against Melbourne where we're expected to be competitive or semi finals against Saints.

He's not a great leader because with Marshall, it's always about him. Team's not doing well, he'll put his hand up and take the blame. It's not a team thing, it's a Benji thing. He's inherited a leadership role by being a gifted player, one of the best on the field and having been with the club for a while. None of these make you a leader, not when the club's made the top 8 three times in your 10 years.

And his 4 years are about him, not the team. It blocks Moses' move to first grade and leaves us with nothing in place. We don't need Marshall for recruitment. Who have we recruited in his time aside from Tuqiri and Ellis?

I love what he can do. Bonstonkers Marshall Magic vids are some of my favorite ways to spend 15 minutes. But 4 years on big money is as bad a signing as the Sheens resignings…don't know if I could watch that happen again.

So long as we dont loose any of our junior's, because if it's marshall or our juniors in my opinion it need's to be bye bye Benji.

 

[Peaches]

I don't know if his contact shouldn't be extended. I just know it shouldn't be extended now.

 

[tig_prmz]

again… a halfback doesnt control benji's defense, error count, 2nd tackle kicks, bombs that go backwards etc.

he should be a leader of the team... not JUST a 5/8 who touches the ball once a set. no matter what position you play, with whome you play with, inspirational leaders and legends stand out from the arrogant selfish yet talented players- benji is the latter.

he needs to change his attitude before anything else

I dont agree at all.
* He isnt an inspirational leader. That is not his playing style at all. Never has been and never will be.
* His errors are due to the fact that he is forced to try and become the savior of the side when platforms havent been laid nor domination established. It is only when these two elements have been acheived that he can exploit the oppositions weaknesses…again - as he always has done.
* He shouldnt do any kicking. He is a runner. He needs someone to take these duties from him.
* I will give you the point that his defence has been aweful this year and last. I am not sure why as he can do it. He isnt a strong defender but has proven over the years that he can be somewhat reliable and even manages to put on hits sometimes.

He does need a halfback and if we dont sign one, nothing will change. I will say it till I'm blue in the face...we need to poach an experienced, organising half and that should be priority number one.

think of what we're paying farah and benji… then add "superstars" like lawrence/blair.. do you think we can afford a "good" halfback? either, benji cuts down on his pay or he does more. simple.

that aside. why cant he be the inspirational leader? even sirro did it today. no forwards wanted to take the hit up, he went into the line and took the hit up himself. later, benji got the ball, all the forwards were tired, no one was running... what does benji do? he just gave the ball off to pettybourne who had just gotten into the line, he got belted.

maybe inspirational leader is a bit over the top, but he is SELFISH. he wants to be the guy who gives the mircale ball once in a while, does the miracle pay etc.

he is a SENIOR player. a senior 5/8\. you cant have a senior 5/8 and a senior halfback in the same time. he is being paid like a senior player, he should play like one.

he needs to fix up his attitude before anything else.

also, not do any kicking at all? he's a 5/8.. he has to do kicking, it's another dimension of a half's game. if u remember a game from a couple of years ago against the raiders, he had been going on about how much he's worked on his kicking for 2-3 weeks and it showed in the game.. we smashed em 50-4 or something iirc.

the difference is, he CAN do it.. but you can tell it from his face, his attitude.. he doesnt want to do the hard yards... he wants to do that one MIRACLE ball, then disappear.. you cant do that as a senior player who's earning millions

 

[GNR4LIFE]

I'm sure we'll see another puff piece at some point next week from him, then he'll proceed to come out against Souths and make the same mistakes, and so the cycle repeats itself. There's a job waiting for him in Canberra when he finishes his footy career

 

[guyofthetiger]

I will put my hand up and say I want Benji to be a 'Tiger for life'. However I agree with everyone else that there should be no rush to sign him up this year. He has 16 games to show us what he has got and a dozen next as well before I would put the contract in front of him.

That said, it is going to be hard for him to show us his wares without a halfback and with the injuries. It takes him time to form combinations in attack due to his off the cuff attacking style. Cliffy Lyons found the same problems in his game.

Lets just see how he goes aye? I have confidence in him. I predict he will EARN that contract extension…..

I predict he will too. He made a lot of errors last year, but in a team that had structure (even if it didn't have heart or go forward) he also set up a lot of points, even when he wasn't at his best.

Maybe it's best he doesn't have a leadership role. I don't think he wants it. That's Farrah's cup of tea. When he gets his confidence back, he"ll lead us to points I'm sure.

Maybe getting a contract out of the way will help with that confidence. His star is falling if the (deserved) drubbing he's copping on here is any indication. Precious as it may be, though, we might as well get rid of him if we"re not going to treat him like the star he"s been for the team, show faith and get a contract sorted.

 

[farmduck]

I know people keep saying he's not able to play "his natural game," but his game should be to do whatever the team needs him to do. If he doesn't accept that, or if he can't do it, he shouldn't be in the team. As for what he's done for the team, we are a mid-table team who've made the finals 3 times in the last 10 years so it's not like he's covered us in glory. Even the Warriors have made the finals more times than we have.