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Tigers legend Stephen ‘Blocker’ Roach once remarked he’d only ever seen the hill at Leichhardt stand for three players whenever they touched the ball – Larry Corowa, Ellery Hanley and Benji Marshall.
Marshall’s return to the NRL, while welcomed by some, has also sparked a loud chorus of criticism. The howls of protest are predictable – “too old”, “past it”, “pea-hearted”, “turnstile”, “overrated”.
But amidst the clamour, let’s not forget there was a reason the Leichhardt Oval Hill stood for him.
At his very best, the game traded off his wizardry. He became its face, its back-page star, its poster boy. Working off instinct, Marshall embodied one of the game’s most endearing traits – simplicity.
Benji was the boy having fun at the park. Flick passes, no-look passes, giant jinking steps – kids wanted to be him. He showed that the reasons for loving the game need not diminish with professionalism.
He may not rank alongside the game’s greatest five-eighths, but we hadn’t seen anyone quite like him. He dominated the highlights reel, he won a premiership against the odds, and did it with panache.
Rugby league leveraged Marshall’s star power. But just as the game needs its stars, so too do the stars need the game. Sport thrives on this synergy. In his fading years at the Tigers, Marshall strained to manage his side of the equation. After two years of lacklustre performances, Benji ceased being ‘the guy’. The Tigers, once so enamoured by him, saw his departure as no great loss. It was a sobering reminder that sport is the great leveller.
Rugby union offered a fresh start. However, the game’s complexity bogged him down. At 29, sensing a fading career as a rugby player, Benji was surely thinking of his legacy in league. Only through time away from the game could he properly turn the mirror on himself.
The realisation that he is not a rugby player drove him back to the NRL. Most humbling, though, is he returns to a game that no longer needs him. Marshall is acutely aware of this, and it is why he will be a success this time around.
Champions in any sport need to test themselves, and at a proud club like the Dragons, he has nowhere to hide. He knows he will be held to account, and it is this accountability that will re-focus him.
That many are willing him to fail is a nod to his reputation as a game breaker; a tacit acknowledgement that he was, indeed, very, very good; a player whose exploits had excited and inspired.
Love him or loathe him, one cannot dispute that Benji Marshall enhanced rugby league. As rugby league fans, we must at the very least respect his contribution.
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