News Rabbitohs happy Marshall's move to Bulldogs fell over

[B-Train]

There is another player out there who can play a very similar role as Benji and help our halves .. Gareth Widdop. I may be wrong but I heard he is still in Australia. .... he would be a fair signing just for this year

He's playing for Warrington.

 

[Dogtime]

Sorry I call BS. Basically everything stopped after Andrew Hill left. So he was the one pulling the strings and wanting to sign Benji. Surely if there was a deal on the table and other people from the club wanted him others could have moved forward to finalise the deal. We're not the first club/business to have a CEO depart.

Herein lies the story. But meatheads here don't see it. Hill was unceremoniously dumped and negotiations with Marshall pulled as the new Board listened to Barrett proclaiming that Penrith will let Burton come a year early if only we exert a little pressure.
Marshall would of helped enormously. He may even play next year as well if managed properly. Lets not forget Flanagan has less than 30 NRL games and Burton next year will have maybe 20 under his belt. As Pay kept saying...it's unrealistic to expect week in week out consistent performances from guys with less than 50 odd games. It takes that long for guys to adjust to the weekly grind of NRL...AND particularly for game managers to have been exposed to various game scenarios for them to react intuitively to changing circumstances on the field.
So next year when Burton joins Barrett...both our halves will have less than 50 games each. Flanagan I hope will of had enough to be able to manage us effectively but no doubt having Marshall there as well this year and next would of helped all our halves... Averillo and Wakeham and Lewis included.

 

[bulldog butch]

I said this at the start of the year..... Flanagan is a good player but he arrived at us with shot confidence after his roosters dismissal. Our forward pack was never going to make it easy for him either will Averill, Lewis, wakeham etc... Benji would have taken so much pressure off him and helped his game. Flanagan will come good in the future, experience and confidence is his issue... Club should of been awake to all this, it was so obvious. Think we were a little arrogant in thinking we could have Burton when we wanted.....

 

[CanterburybankstownBD]

Rabbitohs happy Marshall's move to Bulldogs fell over

Benji Marshall was set to join the Bulldogs and play out his career alongside brother Jeremy Marshall-King but South Sydney playmaker Cody Walker is pleased the deal fell over.

Marshall, who was unwanted by Wests Tigers, believed he was close to finalising an agreement with Canterbury late last year but contact with the club ceased after the sudden departure of CEO Andrew Hill.

A desperate Marshall was forced to phone Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett seeking an opportunity and the Bulldogs are set to see first hand what they missed out on when the two clubs meet in their annual Good Friday clash at ANZ Stadium.

Marshall, who played alongside his brother for the first time with the Maori team in last month’s All Stars clash, won’t get the chance to grace the same field as him this weekend as he is out with a broken foot.

As far as Walker is concerned, Canterbury’s loss is South Sydney’s gain as the 36-year-old playmaker has had a positive influence on the group since arriving in Redfern six weeks ago.

“I watched him play in the 2005 grand final (for Wests Tigers) and you just pinch yourself that he is at our club,” Walker said.

He has inspired so many to play the game of rugby league, to step and flick pass and do all of those things.

“He is quite happy to do whatever role the team needs which is a huge credit to the guy because of what he has achieved in the game.

“He has done it all really and he is just a pleasure to have around the group as well. He is always tipping up the younger boys with whatever they need to do. He has been awesome.”

Marshall played 50 minutes as a middle forward in the opening round and sparked a Rabbitohs comeback that ultimately came up just short against Melbourne.

The following week against Manly he came on at centre before switching to halfback after captain Adam Reynolds was forced from the field for a HIA

Rabbitohs happy Marshall's move to Bulldogs fell over

Benji wanted to play with brother Jeremy Marshall-King

www.nrl.com

In hindsight yes maybe we should have signed Benji but I don't think Barrett and most people at the dogs expected this kind of start!