Rugby: Taniwha should bid for Marshall

Come north Benji, come north!

I know we did not do it when Rene Ranger needed $300,000 to get out of his Montpellier contract, but, if we could start passing around the hat and taking donations to put into a contract in an attempt to entice Benji Marshall to Northland, why not?

With the Tigers star looking at signing with the Blues, there's no reason why we could not at least put our hand up and try to sway the leaguey to the Taniwha. I mean, come on, Auckland and North Harbour have decent first-fives. It's only really Northland who have a known weakness in the pivot area.

We have got a few good first-fives coming through the local club rugby ranks, and for this season at least we have what looks to be a class act in the form of Ben Seymour, but outside of a few we do not have strong numbers. And, at the end of the day, we could wave goodbye to the up-and-coming first-fives if they are snapped up on an overseas contract. Hopefully not, though.

Even though Wests Tigers coach Mick Potter is saying the NRL club will bend over backwards to try to ensure the superstar remains loyal and rejects an offer to play rugby, why not put our hands up? After all, isn't the only stupid question the question that is never asked?

Talk of Marshall's future has been bubbling along since he was benched against South Sydney in round 10, and he was seriously contemplating a move to the Auckland-based Blues.

Since then, reports have emerged that Marshall, 28, could be playing rugby as early as this year's ITM Cup. So, come on Northland, who's going to put in to try and give Marshall something to think about?

Although, even with all the support we Northlanders could muster, I doubt it would come close to matching the mega-bucks which he is on at the moment.