Benji’s Leichardt Farewell Report Card
With much interest the thousands of spectators at Leichardt Oval watched on as their one-time saviour turned out for his last performance in front of the Balmain faithful on the hill.
No matter what side you look at it from, there is no denying that the events of this week have rocked the joint venture club, and tonight was only ever going to go one of two ways; Benji stands up and leads his Tigers to glory making a mockery of the administrators that spurned him or he would stumble hurt his Union stocks.
As the Tigers took to the field for their warm up, interestingly they were lead out by the former Kiwi skipper. On match day the big question on everyone’s lips was “would he be booed”? Even local Minister Darcy Byrne went to the extraordinary lengths of going to the papers to try and ensure Benji would not receive a frosty welcome in his last outing at the historic oval.
In the end, the notion was quashed as a huge Leichardt crowd cheered him on. For now he would still remain one of their favourite sons. That was at least until the second minute of the game.
His playing style has always been all or nothing so this was never going to peter out. In just the Tigers second set of the game, Benji through a great pass to James Tedesco’s knees – only problem was he usually catches the ball with his hands. Not a great start.
Minutes later, with the Tigers on the attack, Benji managed to deliver a superb cut out pass to Blake Ayshford to put him in space on the right edge. Ashyford would go on to find Nofoaluma for the Tigers first try. That is where the highlights stopped unfortunately.
For the rest of the game, the Tigers featured more of the 2013 Benji we’ve come to know and resent. Three further times in the first half Benji would throw passes that missed targets. And I’m not talking cut outs – these were simple one out passes that even Ben Roberts (hi Eels fans) could hit.
The second half started positively, as Benji looked threatening as he took the Warriors on at the line. Despite this he didn’t really do anything. No line breaks, no line break assists, just a few run and dump offs. In the final 20 minutes however, his game completely unraveled.
His passes found the deck and the sideline more times than they found hands, and the Bronx cheer started to go up.
When he kicked the ball out on the full from a 5th tackle, and not just a little bit out but a decent shank which made the front row of the crowd, the cheers were not really sarcastic but almost joyous.
It’s never good to see the mighty fall, but like a lot of the fans there on Friday night, I’m starting to think Wests really might have dodged a bullet here by unloading what would have been a highly paid debilitating player.
This point is even more apt when you consider the commanding role our u20s halves played in the curtain raiser. Luke Brooks mesmerised the defence all night with every touch, while Mitch Moses was hugely influential playing in the unfamiliar fullback role. But this isn’t an article about them, it’s about Benji.
In 80 minutes, Benji made the least amount of runs and least amount of metres of any of the Tigers 17 barring Braith Anasta. He finished with game with three recorded errors, but contributed to countless others against his teammates.
It’s hard to say that Benji was the worst player on the field, and I won’t. He wasn’t even the Tigers worst. The problem again lies in his inability to do what he wants to do with the ball.
He still attacks and reads the play well, he still has pace, although not where it once was, but he has now picked up some technical deficiencies that seemingly have ruined his passing game. He just can’t do what he used to be able to do.
At this rate it’s hard to see how he is going to make it in Rugby Union.
For Tigers fans the last week has been a blur. First there was shock, then disappointment, then resentment followed by confusion (mostly over the videos and interviews done). But just as quickly, we find acceptance. This was the change the club had to make.
It takes balls to stand up to the face of the franchise and tell him you don’t think he is worth as much as he thinks he is. The early signs are that they were right.