Wests Tigers and the St George Illawarra Dragons have today reached an agreement that will result in Benji Marshall being free to take to the field for the Dragons this weekend.
Wests Tigers CEO Grant Mayer thanked his Dragons counterpart Peter Doust for his openness during the process and said that the club looks forward to seeing Marshall back on the field.
“I’d like to thank Peter for his willingness to work with Wests Tigers to reach an agreement that was acceptable for both clubs,” said Mayer. “First and foremost Wests Tigers are very happy that Benji is back in the NRL and look forward to seeing him play for the Dragons.
“We have the upmost respect for Benji, he’s a Life Member of Wests Tigers and played 201 games for the club over 11 seasons. Benji will always be a part of this Club no matter which team, or code, he plays,” he said. “We have been consistent with our messaging since Benji announced his desire to return to Rugby League, this negotiation was about protecting the sanctity of the contract which Benji had with Wests Tigers for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
“The agreement we’ve reached with the Dragons is not onerous or over the top, and we believe is a fair commercial set of terms for a marquee player such as Benji to be taking to the field for a rival club,” said Mayer. “Moving forward I believe our game has reached a stage where transfer fees will become the norm, we see it working in other professional sports and given that Rugby League is now a billion dollar business the time has come for it to become common place.”