1. Benjamin Quentin Marshall was born on 25 February 1985 and is a New Zealand professional rugby league coach and former player who is the head coach of the Wests Tigers in the NRL.
68 Facts About Benji Marshall
1. 2.
Benji Marshall played at five-eighth or halfback for the Wests Tigers in two separate spells, St George Illawarra Dragons, Brisbane Broncos and South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League, and at representative level for the NRL All Stars and New Zealand Kiwis.
3.
Benji Marshall was briefly a professional rugby union player with the Blues in Super Rugby.
4.
Benji Marshall played for fourteen seasons in the National Rugby League for Sydney club Wests Tigers, with whom he won the 2005 NRL Premiership.
5.
Benji Marshall has been noted for his flamboyant attack, including sidesteps, no-look passes and flick-passes.
6.
In 2010 Benji Marshall won the Golden Boot Award for the best international player.
7.
In 2022, Benji Marshall signed a five-year deal to become an assistant coach of Wests Tigers under Tim Sheens, with Benji Marshall succeeding Sheens as Head Coach ahead of 2025 season after Sheens' impending retirement.
8.
Benji Marshall is the eldest of three brothers, and the elder brother of New Zealand Maori international Jeremy Marshall-King.
9.
Benji Marshall was raised without his biological father, but has spoken of the influence of his foster-father Michael Doherty, and other men within his extended family.
10.
Benji Marshall was offered a scholarship to play for Keebra Park State High School in Gold Coast, Queensland when he was 16.
11.
In Round 20 of the 2003 NRL season, Benji Marshall made his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers against the Newcastle Knights, coming on as a replacement in the 14th minute as fullback.
12.
Benji Marshall continued to make appearances for Wests Tigers for the remainder of 2003 when his studies allowed, playing halfback.
13.
Benji Marshall scored one try from four appearances in his debut season.
14.
In 2004, Benji Marshall starred in the pre-season World Sevens competition helping the Wests Tigers to win the tournament.
15.
Benji Marshall began the season playing at centre until he dislocated his shoulder in Round 4 against the North Queensland Cowboys.
16.
Benji Marshall dislocated the same shoulder four weeks into his return in Round 13.
17.
Benji Marshall's season ended as he had surgery, finishing the year with 2 tries from 7 matches.
18.
In 2005, Benji Marshall injured his other shoulder in the opening minutes of the first trial match.
19.
Benji Marshall was able to score individual tries and set up tries for his team-mates.
20.
Benji Marshall made his New Zealand debut in the 2005 ANZAC Test.
21.
Benji Marshall was a member of the Wests Tigers that defeated North Queensland Cowboys in the 2005 NRL grand final, where he famously set up a 90-metre try to Pat Richards, which was considered to be one of the best tries of grand final history.
22.
Benji Marshall was named as New Zealand five-eighth for the 2005 Tri Nations tour.
23.
Benji Marshall is a remarkable talent, born out of living on the edge.
24.
Benji Marshall made his comeback from surgery against St George Illawarra in round 1, but broke his cheek bone.
25.
Benji Marshall played the rest of the match and set up the winning try.
26.
Benji Marshall popped his shoulder out but recovered in three weeks, playing for New Zealand in the ANZAC test.
27.
In 2007, Benji Marshall again made his comeback from injury against the Melbourne Storm in Round 1.
28.
Benji Marshall had to adapt to changes within the team such as the departure of halfback, Scott Prince, and the added responsibility of goal kicking while fullback, Brett Hodgson, was recovering from a knee injury.
29.
In round 8, Benji Marshall sustained a fractured shoulder in a tackle where his arm was jammed between Melbourne's Israel Folau and the Tigers' Taniela Tuiaki, and didn't return until round 20.
30.
Benji Marshall was named in the 24-man Kiwis squad for the World Cup.
31.
Benji Marshall scored a try and kicked two conversions in the World Cup final victory over the Kangaroos.
32.
In round one of the 2009 season, Benji Marshall started at halfback alongside John Morris at five-eighth.
33.
In March, despite speculation that he might play rugby union in Japan, Benji Marshall signed with the Wests Tigers for a further two seasons through to the end of 2011.
34.
In March 2010, Benji Marshall scored two tries against the Parramatta Eels to become the highest try-scorer for the Wests Tigers, breaking the record of 43 previously held by Daniel Fitzhenry.
35.
Later that year, in a match against the Titans, Benji Marshall kicked a 51-metre-long field goal, considered to be the longest in NRL history.
36.
In round 14 of the 2011 season, Benji Marshall scored 2 tries against the New Zealand Warriors.
37.
Benji Marshall had then scored a try against every team in the NRL.
38.
Benji Marshall was the top point-scorer for the 2011 NRL season, winning the Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year and placing second in the Dally M Player of the Year voting.
39.
On 3 November 2011, The annual RLIF Awards dinner was held at the Tower of London and Benji Marshall was named stand-off half back of the year.
40.
Benji Marshall captained the NRL All Stars team to victory in the inaugural Arthur Beetson trophy.
41.
Benji Marshall was one of the few players to appear in every Wests Tigers game for the year and, despite the club's poor showing, led the NRL in try assists and line-break assists in the regular season.
42.
Weeks later, New Zealand coach Stephen Kearney announced that Benji Marshall had been dropped as the team's captain.
43.
Benji Marshall finished the remainder of the season before leaving, and left the Wests Tigers as the club's all-time top try and point scorer.
44.
Benji Marshall indicated his desire to play for the Auckland team, even if it meant a pay cut and the probability of starting on the bench.
45.
Benji Marshall signed a two-year deal with the Auckland franchise worth close to $500,000 a season, announced via Blues official YouTube channel, with Benji Marshall wearing the Blues jumper while still signed with Wests Tigers.
46.
In February 2014, Benji Marshall made his Super Rugby debut for the Blues against the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin coming on off the bench in the 59th minute playing at fullback which resulted in a re-shuffle with Charles Piutau shifting to the centres.
47.
On 15 March 2014, Benji Marshall made his first appearance at fullback for the Blues for the clash against the South African team, the Lions at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.
48.
However, on 23 April 2014, having made just one start and six appearances, Benji Marshall was released from his contract with the Blues.
49.
Benji Marshall finished the year playing in 15 games and scoring 3 tries.
50.
In 2015, Benji Marshall steered the Dragons to their first NRL finals series since coach Wayne Bennett left the club at the end of the 2011 season.
51.
The Dragons were defeated in golden point extra time by the Bulldogs in the first elimination final with Benji Marshall being forced from the field in the second half with an ankle injury.
52.
Benji Marshall finished equal second in the Dally M medal count, behind Johnathan Thurston, who won the People's Choice award, along with the Player of the Year and Halfback of the Year.
53.
Benji Marshall had been set to play game number 250 the weekend earlier against the Gold Coast Titans, before a troublesome hamstring pushed it back a week.
54.
Benji Marshall ran out in his 250th game in the Red V of St George, meaning that he ended up playing a major milestone match against a team he played most of his career with.
55.
Benji Marshall talked to me about just enjoying the game again, which I had lost.
56.
Benji Marshall signed a deal in August 2017 to go back to his first club The Wests Tigers for one year.
57.
Benji Marshall started as halfback, pairing with Shaun Johnson for a much anticipated halves combination.
58.
Benji Marshall made 19 appearances for the Wests Tigers in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished ninth on the table and missed out on the finals.
59.
The year saw Benji Marshall put in a number of strong performances.
60.
Towards the back end of the season, Benji Marshall was informed by Wests that he was not part of their plans going into the 2021 season.
61.
Benji Marshall played a total of 22 games for South Sydney in the 2021 NRL season including the club's 2021 NRL Grand Final defeat against Penrith.
62.
In 2022, it was announced that Benji Marshall would be appointed the Tigers' assistant coach under long-time head coach Tim Sheens, with the original plan being an assistant coach for the 2023 and 2024 NRL seasons, which would see him take over the head coaching role in the 2025 season after Sheens' retirement.
63.
However due to the Tigers' poor 2023 season, the club mutually parted ways with Sheens in August, with Benji Marshall moving into the head coach role a year earlier than expected.
64.
The final 3 games of the 2023 NRL season officially do not count toward Benji Marshall's coaching record, as Tim Sheens was still technically the head coach until the conclusion of the season.
65.
Benji Marshall was announced as the new head coach for the Wests Tigers starting in 2024.
66.
Benji Marshall earned his first win as head coach in round 3 of the 2024 NRL season against Cronulla.
67.
Benji Marshall, who was ascribed Hall of Fame number 123, was amongst eleven male players in the 2024 Class.
68.
In 2022, Benji Marshall competed on the sixth season of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia.