South Sydney veteran Benji Marshall has declared he may well extend his professional rugby league career into a 20th season, saying he certainly hasn’t decided to retire after Sunday’s grand final against Penrith.
Sunday will be his 346th NRL game and many people are expecting it to be his last.
But the 36-year-old – who will be 37 by the time next season starts – told media today he has no intention of hanging up the boots after the premiership decider, despite his coach Wayne Bennett suggesting it will happen.
During their training session today, some local Gold Coast kids performed a haka for Marshall, who is a graduate of rugby league nursery Keebra Park High. Marshall gave his training hat to one of the children.
“Who knows, I might get a few hakas this weekend (because) everyone thinks I’m retiring,” Marshall said.
“Wayne said I am, anyway. I just laughed, I haven’t even discussed retiring with Wayne at the moment.
“I think I’ve done a really good job in the last few years of playing each game as if it’s my last, and then at the end of the season make a decision about what I want to do. It’s not going to be any different this year.
“The way my body feels right now, I could play next year for sure if I wanted to. But I will weigh all those things up at the end of the season, get through this weekend and give it a bit of time to sink in and then make a decision after that.”
Marshall’s NRL career has looked like ending multiple times already over the years.
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In 2013 he was forced out of Wests Tigers – the club he won the 2005 grand final with – and left rugby league altogether, heading home to New Zealand to play rugby.
That sojourn in the 15-man game didn’t last long and St George Illawarra threw him a lifeline midway through the 2014 NRL season.
His career looked over again until the Broncos – and Wayne Bennett – threw him a lifeline in 2017, and then the Tigers threw him yet another lifeline in 2018.
During the 2020 season Marshall was dropped by Tigers coach Michael Maguire and the club told him he would not be offered a new deal. Once again, it appeared Marshall’s days in the NRL were over.
That was until a phone call to Bennett – now Souths coach – from the golf course landed him a cut-price deal with the Bunnies and has ended with him playing another grand final, 16 years after his first.
Marshall was asked whether the result of Sunday’s game will be a factor in his decision to play on or retire.
“Nah I haven’t (thought about finishing with a premiership). For me, it’s more about if you have the passion and desire to play, then why not?” he said.
Marshall said playing the 2022 season doesn’t mean he’ll still be at South Sydney, opening himself up to offers from other NRL clubs.
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