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Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter was emphatic in his response to claims that superstar Benji Marshall could be set to leave the Tigers at the end of the year.
“I’ve made my feelings known that I want him to stay,” Potter told the Adelaide Advertiser.
“It’ll just be whether we can squeeze him in (under the salary cap), and whether the deal’s acceptable. It’s a decision for Benji…but Benji’s a good guy and we’ll bend over backwards trying to keep him here at the club”.
On the surface, you’d expect nothing less from the coach.
Ever since a bright-eyed Marshall burst on to the scene as a wiry teenager and soon inspired the no-name Tigers to a fairytale premiership, it was clear that he was a special player.
Every game that he missed with injury or international commitments, it was clear just how special and important he was to the Tigers.
And it’d be a hard sell to say that he is any less important to the Tigers today.
In fact, given the players that the club have been forced to let go of in the past few years and the dearth of options in attack that the 2005 champions have sometimes, you could nearly make the argument that Benji is more important to the club than he was when he guided them to their maiden premiership.
Few would argue that Benji is not a crucial, crucial player to the Wests Tigers.
But is he worth fighting for? Is he worth “bending over backwards” for and doing everything for to ensure that he remains at the club?
Again, the instinctive reaction is yes.
Marshall is the marquee player and the big-name star that continues to drives fans to the ground and continues to put points on the board.
Without him, the Tigers would seemingly be taking a step in the wrong direction and perhaps undoing much of the hard work that he, Robbie Farah and Tim Sheens built in the wake of their 2005 premiership.
Without him, the club would seemingly be at a loss on the field as much as they would be in their marketing and sales department.
However, the reality is that Benji – like every player – is expendable.
And regardless of how much he might bring to the Tigers’ franchise, the superstar five-eighth has also created plenty of drama and problems for the organisation as well.
Perhaps the biggest issue is the matter that Potter hinted at in his quote – that of the salary cap.
Marshall is taking up a substantial portion of the Tigers’ cap room, and while that’s expected from a world-class player, it must be measured in light of what the Tigers are giving up to keep him at the club.
That is, how much is it costing the Tigers to try and keep Benji?
The answer is a lot.
Farah alluded to it in his post-match interview on Friday night when asked about the performance of several Cronulla players in their 36-22 win.
Speaking via Triple M, Farah spoke about his disappointment of seeing the likes of Andrew Fifita, Bryce Gibbs and Chris Heighington leave the organisation and was resentful of the strong forwards that they have become in their own rights.
In his mind, the club should have done all they could to keep those players, and there’s little doubting that the Tigers know that as well.
However, in order to stay under the cap, decisions have to be made. Players – like the three forwards mentioned as well as the likes of Beau Ryan, Gareth Ellis and many more – have to be lost regardless of how good they might be playing.
And regardless of how important they might be.
Now while it would be foolish to try and pin all of that directly on Marshall and his massive wage-demands, the reality is that he is attracting a substantial portion of the Tigers’ cap and that other players are being forced to leave the club as a result of that.
Because of their tight salary cap, the Tigers have been unable to land a genuine halfback to play alongside Marshall (who is still best in the No. 6 jersey) and continue to miss out in the chase for other players they might be interested in.
And it seems that dilemma is only going to get more complicated, with the Tigers reportedly offering Marshall around $750,000 per year for the next two seasons.
It’s not that he’s not worth that amount of money; rather, the contrary.
Because he’s worth that amount of money, any organisation would struggle to keep hold of him as well as all their other budding star players. Any organisation in any sport would be forced to try and juggle the impossible – which would no doubt leading to some poor decisions from time to time.
What the Tigers must measure of the final weeks this season as they begin contract negotiations once more with the New Zealand international is whether or not they are giving up too much to keep Marshall in their side.
What they must come to a decision on is whether Marshall – because he’s definitely worth fighting for – is worth fighting that hard for after all.
Without him, the Tigers would definitely be weaker in their halves combination, but would be able to use the extra cap space to good effect.
They’d be able to bring in a regulation halfback to guide their attack and give Farah something to work off around the ruck; they’d be able to stop their next batch of strong forwards from leaving the club due to salary cap restrictions and complications.
Yet with him, they could potentially get there as well – as long as they get a good run with injuries for a change and stop selling off their best players to other clubs.
The question that remains for the Tigers is which future makes more sense.
Which future is going to lead them back to a premiership the fastest and which is going to allow them to be a genuine contender for more than one season in a row.
Both are complicated and both have plenty going for and against them.
And regardless of what decision the Tigers and Marshall end up agreeing on, both have the potential to cause plenty of drama and talking points.
Interesting times lie ahead.
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