NRL 2024: Benji Marshall’s next test against mentor Wayne Bennett and brother Jeremy Marshall-King

Benji’s Tigers are slowly proving doubters wrong this season. Marshall’s next test against the Dolphins holds a dual challenge of emotional significance: one in the form of his former mentor, and the other his brother.

Benji Marshall doesn’t expect a phone call from super-coach Wayne Bennett this week. Nor his younger brother Jeremy Marshall-King, the Dolphins hooker who has been at the centre of their flying start to the year.

Marshall is unlikely to pick up the phone and ring them either as he prepares to take the high-flying Wests Tigers to Suncorp Stadium for a date with the league-leading Dolphins.

If Marshall can find a way to out-wit his mentor and put the clamps on his brother, there is every chance the Tigers will finish next weekend in the top four.

Not bad for a club that has spent a decade out of the finals and a coach who was written off in many quarters before the season began.

Marshall and the Tigers are slowly winning over their doubters and they can take another step forward with a win in Brisbane next weekend.

That, however, is for later in the week. On Sunday afternoon, Marshall’s priority was celebrating a second successive victory, this time over Parramatta at a raucous Commbank Stadium.

Morale is high for Benji Marshall and the Tigers after beating the Eels. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

He wasn’t ready to look ahead, even though he and his younger brother will grab a slice of history when they square off this weekend – the last brothers to play and coach against each other were Brian and Tony Smith more than 30 years ago.

“It is not going to be emotional for me at all,” Marshall said of the week ahead.

“I don’t think about it like that. They are just in the other team at the moment and my job is to help these guys do what they need to do.

“It is not about me. It is about our whole club. I think our fans came really celebrate that.”

Pressed on the part Bennett had played in his playing and coaching career, Marshall said: “He won’t call me this week I guarantee you.

“We will talk about that during the week. I want these guys to enjoy his now. That is next week. We have to enjoy the wins when they come and then flush it.”

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett gives instructions to Benji Marshall at Broncos training in 2017. Picture: AAP Image/Albert Perez

Marshall and Bennett have had a long association as player and coach stemming from their time at South Sydney, Brisbane and with the New Zealand national team.

Marshall has made no secret of the part Bennett has played in his career as a mentor and sounding board, a relationship that remains as strong as ever.

Bennett has backed Marshall every step of the way and he would no doubt have felt some satisfaction as he watched the way the Tigers put Parramatta to the sword on Monday afternoon.

What a win it was. CommBank Stadium was filled to the rafters and it was hard to tell who was the home town given the atmosphere.

The Tigers had just as much support as the home team and chief executive Shane Richardson conceded afterwards on Triple M NRL that it was the sort of atmosphere and conditions the club craves on its path to being a rugby league superpower.

Benji Marshall alongside brother Jeremy Marshall-King in 2019. Picture: Brett Costello

This was as far removed from Leichhardt Oval as it gets. The corporate facilities were bursting at the seams and the only grass was on the field.

Yet the atmosphere crackled and the football was electrifying. The Tigers will unveil their strategic plan on Tuesday and while it won’t discuss where games will be played in the future, it will point to the club expanding their horizons and ambitions.

“The point about it is we are a big club and we want to be a bigger club – we want to be the biggest club in Sydney if we can,” Richardson said.

“You can’t do that at restricted grounds. I didn’t say we didn’t want to play at Leichhardt – I said we wouldn’t play under the current conditions because it is just not good enough.

“These are the sort of crowds you build a club on. This is a magnificent stadium and we beat the home team here. We have a few offers to take games away as well.

“We will throw that all in the mix and make a decision that is best for the growth of our membership and best for the growth of our (club).”

Originally published as NRL 2024: Benji Marshall’s next test against mentor Wayne Bennett and brother Jeremy Marshall-King