Benji Marshall may join NRL greats in rare feat

Benjamin Quentin Marshall could join other champion players Royce Simmons, Mal Meninga, Steve Menzies, Shane Webcke and most recently Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith, to walk away with a grand final victory in his last playing appearance.

Although it is only March, with a long unpredictable season ahead, it would be fitting for the Whakatane-born wizard to add another astonishing achievement to cap an already illustrious career.

Now 36 and into his 19th season in the toughest rugby league competition in the world, the oldest player in the NRL has morphed into a modern-day super-sub for the red-hot South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Currently sitting on 327 first-grade appearances, Marshall could even nudge the 350 mark, which would see him level with Bulldogs great Terry Lamb in fourth place overall for most games played. Only Smith (430), Cronk (372) and Broncos legend Darren Lockyer (355) have played more.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Manly’s Menzies capped his career at 349 matches with a try, his 180th, in the 2008 grand final as the Sea Eagles slaughtered the Storm 40-0.

In the twilight of his career, Marshall is far less worried about these statistics than he was as a youngster when he had the rugby league world at his hot-stepping feet.

The 2010 Golden Boot winner – who has scored 1220 NRL points, including 93 tries and 16 field goals – certainly never lacked confidence in his career.

This despite being let go by the Tigers twice, some below-average form before and after returning from a failed Super Rugby stint with the Auckland Blues in 2014, and compounding all other adversaries, being completely ignored and overlooked at international level for seven straight years.

Although Marshall did show his class by returning to form in 2015, finishing second equal in the Dally Ms as his career surged on with the St George Illawarra Dragons.

Marshall’s 20th Test match as New Zealand captain, in the 2012 Townsville Test against the Kangaroos, broke Gary Freeman’s previous record of 19. It would prove to be Marshall’s last appearance under national coach Stephen Kearney. He would have to wait until a recall came from new coach Michael Maguire in 2019.

2017 Kiwis coach David Kidwell could also find no room for the mercurial 2005 grand final winning five-eighth, stating at the time of selection for that season’s World Cup, “Look, I think we’ve sort of moved on from Benji, those young halves, they are certainly putting themselves in the frame.”

Kidwell was speaking of Te Maire Martin and Kodi Nikorima as most likely to partner the out-of-form Shaun Johnson in what proved to be a diabolical campaign.

Strangely enough, Maguire reinstated the veteran playmaker as captain and, in from the wilderness, the 2011 Dally M Five-eighth of the Year led New Zealand to a comfortable 34-14 victory in his comeback Test against Tonga.

Marshall’s international Test caps now sit at 31 and he could have easily played 50, particularly after playing 24 of them consecutively. Marshall also sits inside the top ten for points scored overall and still holds the record for Tests as captain, with 22.

2021 will in all likelihood be the likeable legend’s last in the NRL and who could begrudge him if he was to walk away in his last game like the aforementioned club greats with his second NRL title, after debuting in 2003.

Regardless of how Marshall signs this season off in clubland, he will go down as one of New Zealand’s greatest of all time, included in the top echelon that includes Mark Graham, Mel Cooke, Ruben Wiki and the little general Stacey Jones.

Marshall’s story may not finish there either, with the World Cup scheduled to take place later this year in England, kicking off on October 23.

Although unlikely to be selected by his former Tigers coach Maguire, Marshall’s late career mantra of ‘never say never’ could see him do the remarkable one more time.

However that might be one scintillating side-step too far for the gifted veteran.