Wests Tigers' new signings mark the start of post-Benji era

Benji Marshall has been a faithful servant of the Wests Tigers for over 10 years. His game tonight against the Manly Sea Eagles will mark his 195th appearance for the club.

After leading the club to their first premiership title in 2005, few would knock his claim as being one of the Tigers’ best players in recent history.

However, it appears that the Benji era is finally over in Tiger Town.

The club announced this morning via their website that talented halves combination Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses would both be staying on at the club until at least 2017 – wrapping up four-year deals with both players.

Head coach Mick Potter said that “both boys have plenty of potential and are talented kids in their own right” and concluded by saying that he has “no doubt that we will see the best of them in the next couple of years”.

Which, for Tigers fans, cannot come soon enough.

Currently lagging in 15th position on the NRL ladder, the 2013 season has certainly been one to forget for the Tigers. Their usual attacking flair hasn’t worked; their back-line has continually been haunted by injuries, and the good players that they did have on board, missed valuable time due to Origin commitments.

They just haven’t been anywhere near good enough this year, and that’s without mentioning the inconsistent performances that Marshall has produced.

Yet even still, the thought of losing one of their best attacking options (and one of the best attacking players in the game) certainly wasn’t an easy thought for Tigers’ fans to reconcile with. They’d seen star forwards like Chris Heighington, Gareth Ellis, Bryce Gibbs and Andrew Fifita forced to let go by the club so that they could afford the wages of Marshall and remain under the salary-cap. They’d seen the club give up so much for Marshall – making the decision to let him go (after they’d given up so much to keep him) complicated and confusing at best.

A post-Benji era certainly didn’t appear to be a promising one, yet the move to wrap up deals for Brooks and Moses showed that positive steps are being taken.

Albeit slowly, and not with as much glamour as Marshall.

Both Brooks and Moses are extremely talented players, and will come into the Wests Tigers’ first-grade team with plenty of hype around them. Moses was named the NSWRL SG Ball Player of the Year last year, Brooks featured in the NSW U/20’s team this year; and both played in the 2012 Australian Schoolboys team.

However, while both will have plenty of hype, they will also have plenty of expectations. And it’s important for Tigers players, staff and fans alike to recognise that both Moses and Brooks will not deliver on the expectations immediately.

Much like Marshall had his injury-laden 2004 season before he delivered silverware to the club, so too Brooks and Moses must be given time to live up to the enormous responsibility they have been dealt. In both successes and failures, the kids (which we must remember they still are) have to be given several years in the top-flight before we can start to claim anything about the post-Benji era.

The future halves combination for the Tigers must be given time to show what they can do, much like a young Benji Marshall was nearly a decade ago.

There’s certainly some risk associated with how the post-Benji era has begun for the Tigers; two four-year deals to a halves combination that is currently only sitting seventh in the Toyota Cup doesn’t exactly scream like a sure-fire success move. However, the reality is that with time, a world-class hooker to guide them and an array of exciting young backs to feed off them, the new-era Tigers will be okay.

The Brooks-and-Moses-era will produce success like the Benji-era did before. Even if it will be called the post-Benji era for a little while.