League: Player profile - Benji Marshall

Benji Marshall

If there is one man in the Kiwis who carries more of a burden of expectation into tonight's test it is new five-eighth Benji Marshall.

Just 20 and with 16 games in the NRL after a late start this season following a dislocated shoulder, Marshall is supremely confident in his own ability and not at all cowed by the might and experience of the Australians he faces.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could do it. I wouldn't have come into the camp," he said during the build-up this week.

"I didn't expect to get in the team but I'm here and I'm keen as."

Marshall was a late-comer to league, starting at 16 - and it something of a fluke at that.

He was studying tourism at Whakatane High School and while on a class trip to the Gold Coast, he and some friends went to watch a mate play for Keebra Park High School.

They accepted the offer of having a run.

A talent scout saw Marshall and his mates in action and passed names on to Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens, the school having formal links with the NRL side.

Marshall got an offer to stay and continue his education on scholarship, and next thing he was in the Australian Schoolboys side facing the Junior Kiwis.

It was a turning point in his career and it settled his mind on where he wanted to align himself for the future.

"I listened to the [Australian] anthem and it didn't sound right. I looked across halfway and when I saw them doing the haka at us, it just didn't feel right."

Since then Marshall has made it clear he wants to wear black and white, not green and gold, and he has collared another transplanted Kiwi, Karmichael Hunt, about it, after the Avondale-born-and-raised Broncos fullback declared his preference for State of Origin and Australia.

Marshall started as a halfback but prefers five-eighth, where he has enjoyed a sweet combination with Tigers half Scott Prince.

When together they have lost only once, against the Cowboys last weekend, when Prince copped a head knock and could not remember much of the game - he kept asking Marshall afterwards what had happened.

Marshall does not regard his trademark mid-air body swerve and step as his best strength. Instead, he nominates his running game.

"And I have a solid kicking game as well, which I'll have to use in the test."

He is regaining confidence in his shoulders after undergoing a reconstruction early last year, then the dislocation in pre-season this year.

Marshall is totally unconcerned about the threat of a concerted attack from the Australians.

"I'll be able to handle myself," he said.

"You can't be too tense otherwise it plays on your mind. I don't want to get too serious."

He is well aware of what happens when you succumb to pressure - dropped ball, tackling too much, and fatigue that means you can't do your best in attack.

FOR Marshall, league has been one big on-going adventure.

He rates that Australian Schoolboys game as a highlight, and another was his NRL debut against Newcastle in 2003. Sheens had watched him twice for Keebra Park then rang out of the blue after injuries bit, telling Marshall: "I need you this weekend."

The Tigers won 52-12 and Marshall's name was emblazoned in headlines.

Sheens later commented that Marshall had a long way to go to catch up to the hype.

More recently, the coach judged that Marshall was ready for test football, but off the bench rather than as a starter, mainly because he was not totally fit.

Marshall smiles and says he is ready.

"There's no nerves. I'm a target every week in the NRL - I'm used to getting run at."

Life is good for him and his family now. He is proud of the fact that he has been able to move his mum Lydia over to Sydney with younger brothers Jordan, 12, a fullback and Jeremy, 9, another half.

"Jordan's got my sidestep - not as big but it's just as effective in his age group."

They live in a house Marshall just bought in Parramatta and now he is looking at a beach home at Kiama on the South Coast.

"I couldn't ask for anything more. I'm having a lot of fun."

Tourism is out the window as a career option post-league, and so is his second choice, physiotherapy.

"I'd like to look at something in TV. That looks like fun."

With good looks, a sense of humour and tonnes of confidence going for him, he'll make it, no doubt.

He will get a hammering at Suncorp Stadium, but Marshall has the attitude to bounce back from anything.

Only one question remains about his future in league: can his small frame cope with the continual bashing he will suffer as a target for the big runners?