Gregor Paul: Benji experiment is still hanging in the balance

Benji Marshall. Photo / Getty Images

This Benji Marshall business gets curiouser and curiouser. Is he a fullback, a first-five, a busted flush or a generically gifted footballer who is going to come to life in the second half of the season as he gets a better grip on his new code?

It's hard to have any answers as Marshall, including Good Friday's clash in Wellington, has been in action for just 212 minutes. It's been hard for him to put bums on seats at Eden Park when his own bum has been, for the most part, on a seat at Eden Park.

It's also been an exercise in excessive pride swallowing. When Brad Thorn first converted from league, he found it a startling but ultimately grounding and beneficial process to go from being king of the other code, to remedial status.

Marshall appears to have the perspective, humility and depth of character to rationalise his situation. But for how long?

Thorn, after 12 months in rugby, took a year out such was his uncertainty about his level of commitment. New Zealand's other successful league convert, Sonny Bill Williams, has followed a similar path to Thorn by jumping back and forth - suggesting that the NRL never leaves the soul.

Marshall's difficult conversion to rugby has, predictably, fuelled speculation that a return to league is on the cards. The big-spending Salford in the UK's Super League have supposedly aired their interest, while the Warriors, in need of positive distractions, would love to steal Marshall from their Eden Park co-tenant.

Just as predictably, the Blues say Marshall is going nowhere and such assurances have been sought and given by the player and his agent. The Blues have consistently said Marshall was brought to Auckland as a longer term investment and that there has been a plan in place to ensure his development is not derailed by unrealistic expectations.

Softly-softly hasn't caught the monkey though, and the Blues have reached the point where if they want any reward from Marshall they are going to have to take some risk.

It's classic Catch-22 for coach John Kirwan: Marshall's development is inextricably linked to game time and yet it's hard to give him game time until he's earned it. But it would be unforgivable for the Blues to reach the end of this campaign with judgement on Marshall still impossible to make. If they want him to amount to something, they have to back him more than they have.

From what he's shown so far, fullback looks to be the best place to use him, with Charles Piutau shifting to the wing. Marshall will make mistakes, he'll be caught out of position, run when he should kick, kick when he should run.

But making and learning from his mistakes is a critical part of his development. The Blues are going to have to wear the damage and hope that it doesn't take long for Marshall's positive contribution to outweigh his negative.

He has looked over-eager in his appearances off the bench; too determined to make an immediate and lasting impact. Might he be transformed psychologically if he's given a run of starts to play his natural game?

That's maybe the most pertinent point in all of this - no one knows how Marshall's natural game will manifest in rugby. He might be a revelation, he might be a disaster but right now it's the not knowing that must be killing him.