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Benji Marshall could be the trump card for the Tigers. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion

BENJI MARSHALL v JAMIE SOWARD

Benji Marshall

Five years after he led the Tigers to glory in a blaze of trick-shot passes and weaving runs, Benji Marshall has become the complete player.

He's playing the best football of his career.

He still does the things he did back in 2005, but with more experience under his belt he now does them at the right times. He knows when to hold them and when to fold them.

Sure, he'll still miss his target every now and then but nine times out of 10 he delivers the money ball.

So often for the Tigers Benji's accuracy proves to be the winning of a game. He is one of the best players in the competition in the five-eighths position. He does stuff no one else can do.

Although he had to survive four shoulder reconstructions early in his career, there was never any doubt Benji would become the player he is today.

For a while he must have had the thought that if he got injured again it could be the end of his career.

But those injury problems seem to be well behind him. He's missed just one game in the last two years, which has enabled him to flourish. Consistency and confidence come with getting out on the paddock.

What we see now is a player at the peak of his ability - and he is still only 25. Benji has handled the stardom side of the game particularly well.

He's mature beyond his years. Winning the title in 2005 set the bar pretty high but he has been able to live up to that expectation.

A lot of Benji's ball-playing ability is down to his background as a touch player, a game where time and space are extremely limited.

He is the best in the business at executing plays right at the line. With Benji at the heart of it, the Tigers' left-side attack was deadly against the Raiders last week and it will again be a key against the Dragons.

Gareth Ellis runs lines back in towards the ruck that are very difficult for defenders to pick up. Benji's ability to play so late effectively freezes the line, with the defenders having to sweat on Ellis.

Benji can then either hit Ellis if there is a gap or send the ball out the back where there should be an overlap. These days he is master at choosing the right option.

There's been plenty of conjecture about the knee injury that forced Benji off against the Roosters in week one.

Plenty of people have said he can't have been hurt but, take it from me, no player would ever go off in that situation if they didn't have to. Your teammates would never let you live it down.

Benji was injured all right but, even so, he came back against the Raiders looking like he had something to prove.

He would have felt that he'd let the team down. That's something all injured players go through. He desperately wanted to make up for that and he did so.

Whether he can do so against the Dragons will depend on whether the Tigers' grinding players can keep them in the match. If they can, then Benji could be the trump card.

Jamie Soward

The little Dragons maestro is a completely different style of five-eighths.

Soward is a great kicker and distributor but he's not what you'd call a genuine No 6. His biggest strength is his broken field running. The Dragons play a highly structured game and Soward's kicking is a massive part of it.

He has the ability to find space with his kicks and then the Dragons really put the squeeze on with their defence.

Their attack hasn't been great at times but from broken play Soward is a real danger man. If the ball comes loose and he picks up then he is usually away and there is no stopping him. He reminds me a lot of Stacey Jones in his prime. The stunning try Stacey scored in the 2002 grand final against the Roosters is exactly the sort of play Soward can come up with.

He also likes to have a go wider of the ruck if he sees an opportunity to get among the bigger guys.

With Soward attracting plenty of attention from the defence it should create a chance for halfback Ben Hornby to do something special.

Hornby often goes unnoticed, but he does just about everything right and if the opportunity is there he will take it. I'm picking the Dragons to take out the Tigers and I won't be surprised if Hornby comes up with the big play.

TODD CARNEY v MATT ROGERS

Todd Carney

He started the season finding his way back into the game at fullback but Todd Carney has emerged as the best running five-eighth in the NRL.

Close to the line he is so powerful and so hard to stop. He has that lethal left foot step and genuine pace so when he does decide to go he is hard to contain.

He started playing at the top level at 17 so at 24 he has a heap of experience, despite having been out of the game last year. With Mitchell Pearce the main ball player at the Roosters, Carney plays as more of a runner.

With Braith Anasta at lock the Roosters have a three-pronged attack no other side in the competition can match. Anasta might not like playing lock but by doing so he adds another dimension to the Roosters' attack.

Both he and Carney run great angles and are the best in the comp at hitting holes.

The Roosters' season started to turn around once Carney moved into five-eighth and his combination with Pearce has grown to the point where it is the best in the competition.

Matt Rogers

Just like the Roosters, the Titans made a key change midway through the season, shifting Matt Rogers into five-eighth to take over from Greg Bird.

And just like the Roosters, the switch has worked superbly. A centre or even wing for much of his career, Rogers is pretty much a makeshift five-eighth. But with Scott Prince at halfback Rogers' presence gives the Titans an incredible amount of experience in the key decision-making positions.

Prince is the best halfback in the competition when it comes to making the right calls in and around the opposition 20m zone. He reads the game perfectly. If the big play isn't on he is the best there is at working a repeat set to keep the pressure on.

Rogers is another expert reader of a game. The try he scored against the Warriors in their week one finals match was a classic example. Before the scrum set you could see him telling the outside backs what he wanted them to do. They then executed perfectly with Rogers scoring from an inside ball.

Having been brought up playing first five-eighths in rugby, Rogers has always had the ability to play at six in league. With Prince taking care of the primary playmaking duties, Rogers likes to drift wide where he can use his pace.

Add in Bird, who is crashing the line and popping passes on the left side, and the Titans are a potent offensive team. I think they'll get past the Roosters, with their experience under pressure proving decisive.