When it was announced in December last year that Benji Marshall would be joining the Broncos on a one-year deal, many fans were left dumbfounded, wondering how exactly Bennett planned on fitting him into a seasoned outfit. The halves where already filled with two up-and-coming Origin hopeful’s – one who is about to realise this dream – and a talented youngster with a limited amount of first-grade experience but plenty of potential. In the centers there was no lack of talent either. Roberts had already tied down his spot alongside Kahu, while Moga was being touted as the long-term replacement for the position once held by Justin Hodges.
But as we enter the first round of bye’s, Bennett’s gamble, it appears, is about to pay off. Marshall has been named in the halves alongside Ben Hunt, who is returning from an injury he sustained well over a month ago. This was surprising at first given the exceptional job Nikorima did in Hunt’s absence, but, like we’ve seen so many times before during his tenure with the Broncos and on the representative stage, Bennett has opted in favour of experience and class over form and youthful exuberance.
Bringing Marshall to the club after a torrid year with St. George Illawarra was a particularly risky gamble for Bennett to make. His signature cost the club a miserly $100,000 dollars, and for a player of Marshall’s ilk, this would have seemed like a bargain given the Dragons had tabled an offer of $300,000 not eight months earlier. But with there being no shortage of talent on the Broncos roster, it looked as if that money would have been better spent topping up a players salary, or even purchasing Marshall as part of the coaching staff. Because that is what it seemed he was brought to the club for – to advise players and up-skill the young halves in much the same way as Kevin Walters did during his time with the side in their last visit to a Grand Final in 2015. As it stands though, this might just be the best hundred grand Bennett has ever spent. And here’s why.
Around Origin time, the Broncos’ record is nothing short of woeful. In all honesty, they are probably the most vulnerable team across the bye rounds because so many players are away in Queensland Origin camp. This weekend against the Warriors, they will be without Oates, Milford, Boyd, Gillett, McGuire and Thaiday. That’s a fair chunk of both their spine and their all conquering forward pack, who have played an instrumental role in their go forward this season, that will be missing against a side largely unaffected by Origin.
And so Bennett, wary of the woes they experience around this time of year, took out an insurance policy, ensuring that if their season got off to a rocky start, they could still be competitive across the Origin period. This is why Bennett is one of the finest coaches of our era. He is a forward-thinker, a visionary and a man manager. Say what you will about his behavior off the field, he is one of the most powerful figures within our game and his radical moves have delivered numerous premierships for the clubs he has overseen. So it is no surprise that he took the Marshall gamble, even if, at the time, it looked like a waste of money and a thoughtless move.
Still, we’re yet to see if Marshall is worth the coin. There is a reason the Dragons chose not to renew his contract, and that is because they probably felt he was no longer up to first grade standard and was struggling to produce point scoring plays; a halfback’s prerogative. Already this year we have seen an upturn in the Dragons’ form and while this may have nothing to do with Marshall whatsoever, you have to wonder what their attack would look like had he been re-signed when they tabled the offer he scoffed at not so long ago.
What will he bring to the Broncos this Saturday and how will he perform in combination with the sprightly Ben Hunt? Bennett has put $100,000 on red and is letting it ride. Will he emerge victorious?
Peats’ good form rubs salt into Eels’ wounds
The Paramatta salary cap saga of 2016 is behind us and the rugby league community have moved on, but the scars still cut deep. Their struggles on the field so far this year are a sign that they are continuing to suffer the effects of last year’s events and everything at the club is not as rosy as it seems.
Nothing, though, would hurt more than watching Peats, the man they dumped like a hitchhiker on the side of the Mount Lindesay Highway without so much as a goodbye, run around for the Gold Coast in career best form. I wrote last year in this column that if the rugby league gods existed, they would ensure that Parramatta be given their just deserts. This week, Peats was named in the number nine jumper for NSW and never has an Origin selection made you feel more at peace with the world. Justice has been served.
Better still, the perennial strugglers Gold Coast, who are still in the hands of the NRL, have purchased a player that is not only worth more now than he was when he arrived, but are building a world-class spine, and a more than handy pack, capable of delivering a premiership within five years. This might sound like another Gus Gould rip-off, but when you look down their team list and see names like Peats, Hayne, Roberts, Elgey, and Taylor, it’s hard to think otherwise. Of course, a lot depends on how Gold Coast treat these players and whether or not they can keep them on the books given their rising prices and the limitations of the salary cap.
Then you look down Parramatta’s list and the future doesn’t seem quite so bright. There’s still names like Norman, Gutherson, Moses, French, Brown and Pritchard, who has been a more than able replacement for Peats, to get the heart fluttering. But with the Semi-trailer jetting off for French rugby at season’s end, Paramatta look a bits-and-pieces team destined to remain in the bottom eight for the foreseeable future. And much of this can be tied back to the former board members who allowed the salary cap drama to spiral out of control even when the integrity unit had exposed their attempt to cover up the rort. Was this an enormous blunder or sheer stupidity?
Whatever the case, Parramatta are now paying for their costly mistakes (or ineptitude) on the field. Not only would they still be in possession of Peats if they didn’t have to offload $600,000 worth of talent mid last year, they wouldn’t be rebuilding their player roster and starting from scratch like they have been since the five board members were given their marching orders. The situation may not be as dire at the Eels as it is at the Tigers, and their position on the ladder is a testament to this, but the ones that plunged the club into peril have effectively turned a team bound for finals into a team that are rocks one week and diamonds the next. At the moment they are getting away with poor performances against bottom eight sides because they are among the pick of a bad bunch. Against the competitions front-runners, however, they are struggling to compete. Just like they showed two weeks ago at Allianz against the Roosters.
If Parramatta are searching for inspiration, they should look no further than the Bulldogs who in 2002 were caught cheating the cap and two years later won a premiership. Or indeed the Storm who did the same two years after being found to have breached the cap themselves. If this trend continues, Parramatta will be champions in October next year. The way they’re going though, a top eight finish would be a significant achievement.
