Steve Deane: Marshall's clean image will be tarnished

Benji Marshall, seen speaking at the NRL season launch last week, was involved in an early morning altercation. Photo / Getty Images

That Kiwis captain Benji Marshall would put himself in a position to end up in a punch-up at McDonald's at 3am a week before the NRL season begins is a major surprise.

There are few, if any, more image-conscious players in Australasian sport. Cameras and microphones love Benji and he loves them right back. Marshall has always understood the value of his image.

In fact, Marshall works the media so well it would be no surprise if some of the outlets he favours spin Saturday morning's major screw up as the Tigers superstar taking his one-man crusade against racism to the streets. Sure, maybe he should have been tucked up in bed at home - but you can't exactly fight racism in your sleep now can you? At the very least we can expect a slick apology on Channel Nine's Footy Show - the forum where all league players confess their sins - later this week.

Given the apparent low grade of Marshall's infringement - at this stage allegedly punching a racist boofhead in the chops - a televised mea culpa, perhaps with a tear rolling down a cheek, should be all that's required to keep his carefully constructed image intact.

But there will be damage. To use car bonnet loiterer Martin Devlin's phrase, Marshall has made himself look a right plumb.

The face of the NRL's 2011 marketing campaign, Marshall began last week saying he would not fall victim to the curse that had claimed predecessors Greg Inglis (accused and then cleared of assaulting his girlfriend), Brett Stewart (accused and found not guilty of sexual assault) and Andrew Johns (confessed to long-term recreational drug use).

"It's not going to change what I do away from the game or what I do in the game," Marshall told reporters at the official NRL launch on Tuesday.

"I want to be the player that kids want to be when they grow up.

"I've had a pretty clean image and I want to keep it that way.

"I'm pretty wary of where I am and what I do to make sure I keep the same image because I know image goes a long way in life and at the end of my career I want to still have that image."

Three days later, at around midnight, Marshall left a child cancer charity function at which he had spoken eloquently, helping to raise A$250,000 ($343,300) Instead of going home he went out drinking in central Sydney and then got into a punch-up at a burger bar.

While you can argue the rights and wrongs of defending oneself from alleged racial abuse, Marshall's decision to put himself in that position in the first place is indefensible.

The good news is that, using Marshall's calculations, it should be some time before another player falls into the same trap.

"The only thing I see is that 99 players out of 100 do the right thing," he told a newspaper later last week.

"There are so many things we do that are never mentioned, but as soon as one negative thing happens that's the end of the world."


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