Benji: A Tribute

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When I first laid my eyes on Rugby League as a child, I was captivated immediately by the game. 

Some players struck a chord with me for different reasons - Andrew Ettingshausen because he was so quick and because he had the same first name as me (I was in Primary School in a small country town, this was a big deal!) and Garry Jack because of his amazing ability to cut down anyone trying to score in the corner with his trademark bootlaces tackles.

The following year, I was mesmerised by Tim Brasher, purely because the commentators revealed he was a schoolboy. So was I! And from then he had a fan.

It was more than that with Brasher though. He was fast, had the ability to swerve away from defenders and get away, he was a prolific try scorer. Even as a primary schooler, I was adamant that Brasher would play Origin and Test football. I don't know why, I just knew.

He had that something extra. Something special. That x-factor.

I've seen plenty of great players both in my time as a fan and of those before I was born via archives but none quite captivated me like Brasher did.

Until Benji.

I remember watching his debut against the Knights in 2003. This scrawny little kid who looked like his legs were built out of pogo sticks. He was trying to sidestep anyone and everyone. He was like nothing I've ever seen in this game before. I hadn't seen anything like him in any game - anywhere! And while in 2004, we didn't get to see much of him - in 2005, oh wow!

No one will ever forget that try he set up for Daniel Fitzhenry against the Sharks, Benji unleashing three enormous sidesteps, a burst of speed and then a no-look pass to his winger to score. I didn't know it at the time, but this would become just one of an insanely high number of highlight reel moments that Benji would create over his career.

The immense number of injuries in those early days were worrying to us fans, but they didn't seem to impact Benji. The accolades quickly flowed: named International Five-Eighth of the Year in 2009, winner of the Golden Boot in 2010, his second International Five-Eighth award in 2011 along with being named the Dally M Five-eighth of the year in the same season.

This was peak Benji. He had matured, developed his game, become more patient, didn't try to pull off a trick-shot play *every* time he touched the ball. He was the best in the world, at a time when Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston and Greg Inglis were all International superstars.

Just like with Brasher - when he eventually departed the Tigers of Balmain, Benji's exit from the Wests Tigers was devastating. This wasn't supposed to ever end - not like this!

He ventured to Rugby Union, quickly realised it wasn't for him and returned to the NRL at the Dragons. He played more a steady hand there, as opposed to the exciting magician role he had mastered at the Wests Tigers.

After three years his career looked to be at a crossroads when supercoach Wayne Bennett picked him up for a year at Brisbane. That was one of Benji's best seasons in some time as he showed signs of mastering the playmaking role, relying less and less on his otherworldly stepping skills.

He returned to the Wests Tigers for a further three years and was comfortably their best player for that period, showing no signs of slowing down or worsening. If anything, he was a different, more consistent and well-rounded half.

Bennett, now at the helm of the Rabbitohs, signed Benji for 2021. And like I did when Brasher went to Souths all those years ago, I found myself as equally engrossed in South Sydney games as I was in Wests Tigers games.

Benji, you are unlike no other before you, and there will be no one like you for a long, long time. You excited fans like only the great Dally Messenger did.

You are an icon, you are the highlight reel.

You are always, Benji.

This article originally appears in Volume 2 Issue 30 of The Front Row.

Read the full 2021 NRL Grand Final programme here.