Sheens and family keep Marshall on path to glory

As the next big things of Australian rugby league, Sonny Bill Williams and Benji Marshall appear to have plenty in common.

They have been blessed with outrageous talent and they shoulder the unrealistic expectations of fans every time they touch the football.

Love struck young girls swoon when they sign autographs -- little boys carbon copy their signature moves.

Despite learning their trade in Australia they are fiercely patriotic for home. Their arms are etched with tribal tattoos and they love playing for the Kiwis.

They've shared the pain and frustration of injury stalling their fledgling careers, although Williams already has a premiership ring.

Marshall may soon join him -- being just 80 minutes away from adding his name to the honour roll of New Zealanders fortunate enough to mark their playing careers with the ultimate memento in the code's toughest competition.

They have both earned enough money to buy mum a house in Sydney and with astute management -- serious injuries notwithstanding -- they can set themselves up for life financially by the end of their 20s.

Yet for all the similarities there are still points of difference.

On Tuesday, Marshall will be nursing a hangover -- or working on a new one after his Wests Tigers team contest the National Rugby League final on Sunday.

Williams, meanwhile, will appear in the Waverly Local Court on drink driving charges.

The Bulldogs second rower, who is recovering from an ankle injury, has also been blighted by image problems while laid up.

Stopped for driving erratically in August, a couple of weeks later he was implicated in a "Mad Monday" invasion of the club's Belmore headquarters where the offices were "rearranged" during a traditional season-ending binge.

In contrast, Marshall has not yet put a foot wrong. He hasn't been caught out late in the Cross stumbling from The Empire with Big Willie Mason at 4am.

Naturally boys will be boys but Marshall's discipline appears intact, and this major point of difference is possibly due to their respective club's cultures and the players' choice of mentor.

Off the field, the Bulldogs have earned notoriety in recent seasons while the Wests Tigers have been a feel good news story since Sheens took over the battling joint venture club in 2003.

While Williams last year nominated hellraiser Mason as a role model, Marshall favoured the more authoritarian influence of his three-time premiership winning coach.

After joshing about with league dinosaur Reg Regan for The Footy Show at a fans' day at Concord Oval on Tuesday, Marshall put on his game face when asked to explain the role his family and Sheens have played in keeping him well grounded.

Yearning for mum Lydia and brothers Jordan, 13, and Jeremy, nine, to join him in Sydney, Marshall coaxed them over from New Zealand in January to solidify his support network.

"When I go home I have no worries. I don't have to do washing and cooking and clean -- the stuff as a 20-year-old you don't really want to be doing.

"It's a comfort having my family around. My two little brothers are the most important thing to me. Having them here and watching them grow up is unbelievable."

Sheens, meanwhile, is a controlling influence professionally -- a role he has fulfilled since Marshall was finishing his secondary schooling at Keebra Park High School on the Gold Coast in 2003.

He picked the extravagant sidestepper for a first-grade debut against Newcastle that July and had shoulder problems not intervened he would have played more than just seven games last year.

Ever the protector, Sheens urged the Kiwis selectors not to test his protege against the Kangaroos in April's Anzac test -- not that he need have worried.

The boy done good for his "surrogate" father.

"I guess you could call him my surrogate dad," Marshall smiled as he described his dealings with the 55-year-old.

"The boys tease me about it, they'll say 'look there's your dad' and stuff like that."

It's a ribbing Marshall is more than willing to cop.

"The amount of things I've learnt from him on and off the failed is unbelievable. He doesn't just teach you about football. It's about life as well.

"When I first came to him I was just a boy -- now I feel I've grown from a boy with Tim into a young man.

"He keeps my feet on the ground. When I need encouragement he encourages me and when I need telling off he tells me off. That's why I love him so much -- he's a great man."

While league players can be prone to attracting unsavoury headlines Marshall said playing up was not a big issue for him.

"I'm pretty disciplined. That's all part and parcel of growing up with a big family and all my uncles.

"If I did anything wrong I'd get a clip around the ears or a back -hander.

"I'm proud of my family for the way they raised me. I know what I've got to do on and off the field."

That said, the Tigers boys are not always tucked up in bed by 9pm with a cup of cocoa.

"After (eliminating St George Illawarra last Saturday) we had a barbecue at Fats' (Kiwis centre Paul Whatuira) place on the Sunday. The whole team turned up. We're all good mates and we look out for each other," Marshall said.

"We keep a lid on things. What we do on our own time ... we make sure that we're not too bad or not in the public eye."

Inevitably, that attitude has filtered down from Sheens.

"Tim doesn't care how good you are," Marshall said.

"He'll drop you in a heartbeat if you've done something wrong off the field."

- NZPA