NRL: Wests Tigers and Benji Marshall to part ways at end of 2020

Wests Tigers great Benji Marshall has sensationally lifted the lid on how he found out his time at the club was about to come to an end.

Benji’s time at the Wests Tigers is coming to an end.

Benji Marshall’s decorated career at the Wests Tigers is set to come to an end for the second time.

The Wests Tigers on Tuesday confirmed the star player and the club would be parting ways at the conclusion of the 2020 season.

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Marshall’s NRL career began with the Wests Tigers back in 2003 and saw him play in the 2005 premiership winning side.

But after returning to the club in 2018, the club great revealed the damning way he discovered his time was set to come to an end.

“If anything I was a bit disappointed the way I found out, reading it in the paper. That was a little bit disappointing for me,” Marshall said on Fox League’s NRL360.

“I had a good chat with the coach; he laid out where I stood. I appreciated the honesty, I can finish the season and then both parties will move on. It was pretty normal (the chat with Maguire).

“That is one of the best things I’ve had under Michael is that he’s always been honest with me.

“When you hear about not being wanted through other sources that are not the coach or the club you want to find out if it’s true or not, so I went in there and asked if it’s true or not. He asked for 24 hours to give me an answer, and the answer came back I won’t be required.”

The curtain is set to fall.

A club statement released on Tuesday afternoon confirmed the split with Marshall as the Tigers look towards the future.

“As a club, we were thrilled to welcome Benji back to Wests Tigers in 2018 and to see him return in a leadership role in this part of his career,” said Wests Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe.

“Over the past two-and-a-half years, Benji has performed as we knew he would on field but the reality with our roster management is that he will not be with Wests Tigers next year.

“Decisions around our playing roster are incredibly difficult ones to make, and this decision is not made lightly with the absolute respect this club has for Benji Marshall.

“While difficult, however, it is a decision that has been made as part of our constant roster management responsibilities in order to ensure clarity and certainty for our organisation moving forward.

“Whatever Benji chooses to do in 2021 — whether that is playing football or not — will be up to him and I have no doubt he will be a success.

“He is a terrific player and person and will unequivocally have the full admiration and respect of this organisation in whatever he does next in life.”

Marshall said he’s keen to play on again next season and sought advice from legendary coach Wayne Bennett.

“I feel like I can add a bit of leadership and mentoring to some teams and add a bit of experience,” he said.

“But I’m just keen to play, I rang Wayne today and asked for a bit of advice on playing on and if I could still play on.

“He mentioned that you’re a long time retired, he said if you’ve still got the fire you’re the only person who knows when it’s right to give it away.

“I would love to play under Wayne but they’ve got two great halves there that are probably the form halves in the comp so it’s probably highly unlikely, but I’m going to look at all opportunities and see what’s out there and who knows. Nobody might be interested, so I might have to retire. But yeah I’m keen to play on.”