Internationals Marshall....

[Kiwi League_old]

What sort of future does this guy have?
He dislocates his shoulder opening his front door.
He is one helluva major liabilty on defence.....he made a couple of courageous tackles & and I take my hat off to him in that regard, but a few other teams he basically waved the aussie guy through.
He was rusty as....he threw the ball over the sideline at one point, and the try which Sonny Bill scored was flukey. Tahu just had to catch the ball but instead went into volleyball mode.
Huge talent but uncertain future.

 

[warriors4life_old]

He did look like he was playing to not get injured rather than playing to win. I think once his shoulder worries are completely cleared up for a bit he will start to play like a genius again. He only needs a good amount of playing time without being injured, like last year, to show his talent, but there will always be opposition players running at him and testing his shoulder.

 

[Kiwi League_old]

When, given his history, will his shoulder worries go away?
That is the major concern - how many dislocations can he have before he has to pull the pin?

 

[IanS_old]

I thought he was a liability last night. Sad really.

 

[Kiwi League_old]

You hit the nail on the head. It's sad to see someone pretending to tackle when their heart is not in it.

 

[Iafeta_old]

I dispute that comment.

Benji's heart was in it, so much so that he virtually pleaded to his club to allow him to play.

What wasn't in it was confidence in his shoulder.

And given the prognosis originally was possible surgery, possible season ending, or at best 6-8 weeks, coming back after 3 weeks anyone is going to lack confidence.

Give the kid a break. Fair dinkum.

 

[Kiwi League_old]

Give the kid a break?
You just said he had no confidence in his shoulder, and that's understandable. So how could his heart be in the D? He was understandabley gun-shy. It showed. And that was sad to see.
Why don't you give him a break by not applauding his selection, and instead admit that he should have been given the time to sort out his shoulder once and for all.
I would say if he dislocates that shoulder once or twice more, his brief career will be over.

 

[commonsense_old]

injury does that to a player. u lose some confidence. he is definitely a player low in confidence in his defence.

 

[JonB_old]

Give the kid a break?
You just said he had no confidence in his shoulder, and that's understandable. So how could his heart be in the D? He was understandabley gun-shy. It showed. And that was sad to see.
Why don't you give him a break by not applauding his selection, and instead admit that he should have been given the time to sort out his shoulder once and for all.
I would say if he dislocates that shoulder once or twice more, his brief career will be over.

This post doesn't make much sense. how could you not be sympathetic to him?
He has tow bad shoulders and wants to play for the kiwis good on him for being there.

 

[2big2strong_old]

I thought he was a huge liability.
For club, the guy is a phenom, awesome because all he has to do is do a few mean passes, a few steps and he gets man of the match. At test level we need more all round players, especially in the halves.
Maybe after another season or two he'll be sweet, but i don't think we'd have room for him if we had a Jones/H.Paul pairing come tri-nations.
(if any of you saw Henry Paul play on last weekend, he's still got it. got an almost johns like kicking game)

 

[Sinbad_old]

Yeah but Stacey is nearing the end of his useby date and Paul is now a Pommie, so we have to work on Benji, or someone else. Hell he is only in his second year, give him a break. What were you guys like when you were young? Perfect? I doubt it !

 

[Bulldog_old]

Saying Benji Marshall has an uncertain future is a load of crap...West Tigers would NEVER have released him if they thought there was a chance Benji would damage his shoulder again. I thought he tackled admirably given the injury that he has just recovered from. He made a few errors sure, but who didnt?