Back in 2003, I was a butter-fingered winger for the Newcastle representative touch football team. Playing in the link position (one in from the wingers) for the crazily dominant Western Suburbs team was a livewire Australian representative who had recently made his NRL debut in Benji Marshall.
The State Cup arrived, and our side, with more realistic ambitions in the bars of host city Port Macquarie than on-field, nervously scanned the teams in our just-drawn pool. The news was bad.
“Don’t worry,” I explained to my teammates. “Benji only steps off his left foot.”
Without having Foxtel at home, that statement was made using hope as evidence.
Our lead-in game was against Bowral, the worst possible tune-up. Their approach to the tournament was summed up by their uniforms of Simpsons pyjamas. Did I mention that the tournament was held on the first weekend of December?
Tries in touch football are referred to as touchdowns. In that game, my opposing winger ran in a touchdown off a perfect 40-metre spiral from their improvised quarterback. I’m not sure who was the bigger spoilsport: the referee for blowing a penalty for the blatantly forward pass, or me for not playing along by chasing in defence.
Wests, though, were a class above. We were trying hard but the scoreboard was ticking in their favour. Scarily, and arrogantly in a sport with liberally-used unlimited interchange, Marshall was yet to be injected into proceedings.
Around ten minutes in, he entered on my side of the field with Wests in possession. Isaac Skillen, the link inside me who I can’t resist naming right now, called “Go in!” as he scampered onto my wing like a lion outside of Kansas. Great, a professional athlete as my direct opponent…
We’re backpedalling, and the ball is passed to Benji. He runs at me and steps off his left foot. No problem, I’m ready for this, nice and balanced. Then comes a right foot step. Hmm, I wasn’t expecting that but I can still readjust. And then a second left foot step… I’m on the ground now as Marshall sails past, my teammates in cover defence coming to the rescue.
It was probably just my imagination, but Marshall seemed to target me for the rest of the game, possibly to toy with me like a cat with a wounded mouse, or with a point to prove because I somehow didn’t allow him in for a touchdown.
Our team as a whole wasn’t so lucky. We went down 10-0, our worst ever loss.
The following 24 hours were noteworthy. Benji Marshall scored six times in an 8-2 grand final win. I, meanwhile, had too many shandies and unwittingly cut a teammate’s grass at a nightclub.
Congratulations on a magnificent career, Benji. You left a lot of great players looking like amateurs, and left a lot of amateurs clutching at thin air.
simon
Guest
Nicely worded piece and reminds me of the time, though playing at a much lower level in the northern suburbs touch football competition in the late 80s down at Artarmon oval, when I faced up in the centres (as they were called then) against FloJo (Bears legend Greg Florimo). He had a wicked step on him too and pace to burn which left us all with powdered teeth but his hits in defence added a little bit of the Winfield Cup too, he didn't mind going in a bit low and whacking you in the cruids which definitely slowed our already slow play down a little more. We lost by about 10-2 and FloJo streaked past me for about half of that tally. As a side note we had Rugby famed Gordon Bray in our team for a few games too, not as fearsome a step as FloJo but a lovely bloke and pretty fit.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Leave Nellie out of this!
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
Not on your Nellie.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Is there an article in it?
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
It wasn't Benji . I played against a side that had Neville Hornery as a ring in . It was like he had spiders on him . :happy:
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Geoff, there's a line from the great Raul Julia in the otherwise awful Streetfighter movie that reflects the reality for the two of us: https://youtu.be/sjZ5I8l32CI
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
You're not considering the long game, Nat. Every men's, women's , and mixed side, (with the possible exception of the good ones) was going out on the town that night. Too many distractions. No way can I maintain that dodgy hammy routine for that long. Kangaroo Court had already been unkind to me. Knowing my form, I would've forgotten which leg was meant to be injured halfway through the evening.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Even if he wasn't the best, you could argue that he was the most impactful. Marshall was the type of player that people watched the game for.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
I'd love to see a series by multiple writers on this theme ("The day I faced..."). Do you have any stories?
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
What position were you playing (ie- were you in the thick of it)?
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
I resorted to making touches on him at a 45 degree angle, rather than front-on, which is rule 1 in how not to defend in touch footy. Somehow, I got away with it, but a bit too late to stem the bleeding on the scoreboard.
Macca
Roar Rookie
I remember watching this game and seeing Benji snap my mate Ben Mahoney with a right footer and Benny after the game saying the boys said he only steps off his left. The next year Benji played with Drummy who was just as good. Nightmare. Search Benji Marshall touch football footwork in youtube to see him stepping in a touch State Cup final in c2009. Unstoppable.
Never Was
Guest
I played against Benji in his first game for the Wests Tigers - it was a mixed Wests x Balmain under 20s team - Benji scored 4 tries in the first 20 mins and was literally untouchable. They took him off at halftime and signed him on a long term deal before my club could steal him as they were renowned for doing. There were 10 other players on the field who would go on to have long & successful first grade careers - but Benji was on another planet. He debuted in first grade about 6 weeks later and the rest is history. To this day I’ve never seen anything quite like it. It was a man against boys - it was like he had a cheat code.
Birdy
Roar Rookie
My only claim to Benji fame was at the start of he's career. Here I was walking through a shopping mall with a Balmain jersey on, it seemed like every Polinesian kid in the place hit my jersey and said go Benji. It was a funny day. When Benji started he got the attention of the Polinesian population and is probably one of the main reasons there are so many in our game today. Go Benji.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
So he'd retired and was still in better shape than any of us. I think he would have earned the right to make up for years of lost kebabs.
Harry
Guest
I remember about a decade ago I was playing touch in a local competition here in Melbourne, and one night one of the players on the opposing team was former Wallabies forward Matt Cockbain, who'd finished his career at the Melbourne Rebels. This was a few years after he'd retired. I don't have any particular stories to tell but I'll always remember that at one point I was marking him, and he got the ball and I got a touch on him - it was just one of those hit-up plays that are common in touch with an aim of getting a quick play-the-ball - and his abs were honestly like granite. I always think about that every time I see professional footballers running at top-speed into each-other. Pro athletes are something else.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Biggest guy I played against was Les Mason, Willie's older brother. Luckily, he had less aerobic capacity than Paul Sironen.
Pete
Guest
Tony Trad was the Aussie MXO Coach that year (went on to be Mens Coach) and yes, he was from West’s. Benji was also selected in the Aussie M20 side for the Youth World Cup in 05 .. but Sheens pulls him from that.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
I knew he'd already played for Australia, but I didn't have the details. Pretty sure his coach at West's was the national coach too. I think Sheens banned him from playing after that year. Pity.
John Shaw
Roar Rookie
I remember playing Harold Matthews Cup against Penrith and Greg Alexander for the first time when it was under 14's [if I recall correctly]. I was on the wing but at no stage got to lay a hand on him. He was able to go straight through the center of the field time and again. None of us had ever seen a human our age move so fast. Not long after that I remember a half way line up pre game and standing almost opposite Paul Sironen. He was a giant when he was just 14. He was the biggest bloke I ever played against.