Can Kieran Foran and Benji Marshall save their NRL careers — or is it time to call it quits?
There was a time when Kieran Foran and Benji Marshall could have named their price at any club, now they’d give anything just to keep playing in the NRL. Will they find a home?
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There was a time when Kieran Foran and Benji Marshall could have named their price at any club.
But age and injuries catch up with all footballers, even the champions.
And today two of the most inspirational of their generation are in a fight to stay playing the game they love.
Foran is only 30 while Benji is 35, but with a fire still burning.
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On Saturday afternoon they put themselves on display when Canterbury takes on Gold Coast while Wests Tigers play Manly, with their chances to impress down to the final four rounds of the season.
Almost everyone is telling Benji it’s time to call it a day, or at the very least go to the UK Super League where his magic with the ball can disguise his defensive deficiencies.
But Benji is still willing to back himself against the popular opinion, which only points to his tremendous self-belief.
While Foran has managed 13 games so far this season, that puts him on target to equal his most matches in a year since he left Manly back in 2014.
Yet the Bulldogs had already moved on to Blake Green before Green went down with an ACL knee injury.
So if the NRL’s bottom team doesn’t think Foran is worth another chance, on a vastly reduced salary to the $1m he is currently earning, should Foran just pack up his bags and head for the next chapter in his life?
“I think he is the best buy on the market,” said Canberra’s Peter Mulholland, the NRL longest surviving recruitment boss.
While Mulholland’s Raiders aren’t in a position to sign Foran, given they already have English halfback George Williams and star five-eighth Jack Wighton, Mulholland can’t believe Foran hasn’t been swamped.
“I mean, he can control a game. He has composure,” Mulholland said.
“And why I say he is the best buy is because he would be good in a struggling team, he could make them much better. And he would be excellent in a good side.
“Can you imagine him inside Luke Keary? Can you imagine him outside Mitchell Pearce?”
Can you imagine Foran’s career ending in such inglorious terms given the heights he reached in his early years at Manly — when he left for Parramatta as the game’s most sought after playmaker before his world collapsed.
But those who know him best say Foran has fought his way back on and off the field to become a real leader among tough men.
And those experiences he has lived through have only made him a more inspirational role model.
Former Bulldogs coach Dean Pay would also talk about how just having him on the training paddock would make such a huge difference to his struggling team, especially young halves Jack Cogger, Lachlan Lewis and Brandon Wakeham.
And as for Benji?
Well, it probably says more about the position the Tigers’ salary cap is in that they have let go of the half who was chewing up the least of their salary cap — to keep Luke Brooks and Josh Reynolds who would be on quadruple the $170,000 the Tigers currently pay Benji.
Wayne Bennett said it best this week that Benji had earned the right to make his own decision if he plays on.
Bennett didn’t blame the Tigers, but he did put forward a glowing character reference.
“We have all seen Benji for a long time, I don’t think I need to tell everybody about Benji,” Bennett said.
“But I will tell you what you don’t see is an outstanding bloke, and he was outstanding with the players we had at the Broncos (where Bennett helped save his career previously).
“I can’t give him enough accolades for the contribution he made. And he didn’t get a lot of regular first grade … but he got a great deal of respect because of his attitude and his professionalism and the way he helped.”
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Mulholland also sees merit in Benji, at the right club and, importantly, playing the right role.
“Benji brings an X-factor,” Mulholland said.
“And that X-factor is not just what he produces on the field, but also the confidence he instils with players around him.”
And while the biggest knock on Foran is his injury history, Mulholland says you build that into the bargain.
“Yeah, it’s a concern,” he explained. “But while he might play, say, only 18 games for you, you also know he is going to have a contribution in every one of those games.
“I’m telling you, he is the best buy out there.”
Originally published as Can Kieran Foran and Benji Marshall save their NRL careers — or is it time to call it quits?