Benji Marshall has signed a contract extension that will see him remain at the West Tigers until at least the end of the 2011 season.
It seems the speculation grew very old with Marshall and he decided to get the deal done before the season kickoff against the Canberra Raiders on Monday night.
This is great news, not only for the West Tigers but for Rugby League in general.
The Tigers have now shown they can hold onto their own with Marshall joining Robbie Farah in resigning with the club over the last few weeks. Had the club lost one, or both of those players, it would have been a bad sign and mad it harder for the club to attract other quality player.
I get the feeling the Tigers learned a lot when they didn’t put up enough of a fight for the services of Scott Prince a few years ago. When you have a good player on your books, you hang onto them for dear life.
As for the game in general, losing Benji Marshall would have been huge.
Marshall is one of the most popular players in the game, especially among kids. He is a level headed bloke too, he doesn’t get into trouble and he respects the game, unlike other popular players.
The Tigers are in a pretty good position now. They have hooker and at least one of the halves covered. They have a heap of very promising young players at the club and their Achilles heel in recent season, their lack of size in the forwards, has also been addressed with some very good moves made by the club.
All this and they have Tim Sheens as coach, thats why I think they are a dark horse to win the comp this season.
Lets hope Marshall has a good year for the Tigers. If he starts clicking at halfback he could be a revelation.
