Great news for the West Tigers today as they announced that superstar Benji Marshall has signed a contract extension to stay at the club.
Originally Marshall, probably prompted by his manager, had decided to wait until the season got underway to before he held talks with the Tigers. However a change of heart saw Marshall get talks underway early and a deal was reached.
Marshall is by far and away the biggest name on the Tigers roster and a brilliant talent. He is also one of the most popular players in the game today and you will not find a kid anywhere in Australia or New Zealand who hasn’t got their own version of the Benji Marshall sidestep.
In other Tigers news, its been reported that the club has signed British forward Gareth Ellis from the Leeds Rhinos for the 2009 season and beyond.
Ellis is a back rower these days but started off in the centers and it will be interesting to see how he goes.
Its refreshing to see a top British player actually testing himself in the National Rugby League rather than just talking about it.
In the past players like Andrew Farrell, Keiron Cunningham, Sean Long, Kevin Sinfield, Paul Sculthorpe have all talked about wanting to test themselves in Australia before gutlessly signing extremely long term deals to stay in their comfort zone.
Ellis becomes one of very few British players who have had the courage to take on the challenge with Adrian Morley, Brian Carney and Harvey Howard being the only British players over the last decade to take on the NRL and play in first grade.
