{"id":36915,"date":"2021-02-20T11:10:21","date_gmt":"2021-02-20T12:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=36915"},"modified":"2021-02-20T21:14:10","modified_gmt":"2021-02-20T21:14:10","slug":"benjis-plea-to-nrl-in-wake-of-all-stars-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=36915","title":{"rendered":"Benji's plea to NRL in wake of All Stars epic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benji Marshall had a clear message for the NRL moments after the breathtaking All Stars match<\/a>: take a game to New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The Wests Tigers legend and South Sydney Rabbitohs recruit<\/a> was among the Maoris' best in the 10-all draw with the Indigenous at North Queensland Stadium.<\/p>\n

Less than a month after fearing his illustrious NRL career had fizzled to an end, Marshall – still beaming in the wake of landing a one-year deal with the Rabbitohs<\/a> – represented his beloved Maori heritage for the first time.<\/p>\n

And when prompted by Indigenous rugby league great Sam Thaiday about shifting a future All Stars match across the Tasman, Marshall said it'd make for a booming success.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/NRLonNine\/status\/1363088050943893505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

"Absolutely, (they should take the game there)," Marshall said during Nine's post-match coverage.<\/p>\n

"They would love it over there, bro.<\/p>\n

"There'd be about a hundred hakas in the crowd so it'd take a while to get through them all."<\/p>\n

Marshall led a spine-tingling Maori tribal dance and continued to blaze the way on the field.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old was due to play off the bench but was thrown the Maoris' No.7 jersey when Melbourne Storm playmaker Jahrome Hughes was ruled out due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.<\/p>\n

His exceptional passing game was on display when he hit Jordan Riki with a superb short ball on the try-line in the 47th minute, putting the Broncos second-rower over as the Maoris snared the first try.<\/p>\n

\"Riki<\/p>\n

The former New Zealand Test captain also played a calming role for the Maoris in what was a tense match packed with spot-fires and punctuated with two sin-bins.<\/p>\n

Marshall was overwhelmed when Maori coach David Kidwell phoned to say he wanted him to play – and the veteran said post-match that he was already eyeing next year's game.<\/p>\n

\"Dallin<\/p>\n

"I hope (I play again next year). I'll be keen, I'll put my hand up," Marshall said.<\/p>\n

"This is one of the best weeks I've had – just reconnecting with my culture.<\/p>\n

"When you talk to the Indigenous boys about how much it means to them and their people and just hearing their stories, it makes you understand where they're coming from with a lot of their subjects.<\/p>\n

"I really enjoyed that."<\/p>\n

\"Bunnies<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benji Marshall had a clear message for the NRL moments after the breathtaking All Stars match: take a game to New Zealand. The Wests Tigers […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36915"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36917,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36915\/revisions\/36917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}