Play for our brothers: Laulilii buys into the Benji creed

It’s a pinch-me moment for Wests Tigers outside back Luke Laulilii every time he turns up at training at Concord.

The 19-year-old joins a conga line of youngsters who idolised Benji Marshall as a player as they forged their own careers. 

But now he just doesn’t get to stare at the Marshall highlight reels, he gets to rub shoulders with the 2005 premiership winner and 2010 Golden Boot recipient almost every day. 

“He was someone I looked up to growing up,” Laulilii told NRL.com.

“I want to do whatever I can whether it’s at fullback or wing to keep in that 17.” 

Laulilii was captain of Wests Tigers Harold Matthews Cup team (Under 17s) and his 19 games in NSW Cup over the past two years have been mainly at fullback, with some wing and centre appearances. 

“Benji keeps telling us to just play for our brothers and go out and back each other," he said.

“I need to focus on my training every day and show him I can do this. I need to show him I can be a consistent person. 

“At the start I looked at him as Benji Marshall … I might have been a little star-struck but now I see him as one of the boys and I want to play well for him.” 

So far so good – Laulilii has scored four tries in six matches this year. His career tally since making his NRL debut in 2024 is eight tries from 14 games. 

A second pinch-me moment is being up-close-and personal with four time-premiership winner Jarome Luai. 

“The mentality Jarome brings to the club and team – winning every day not just winning on game day – I’m really liking,” Laulilii said. 

“It just draws my attention in and I want to be like that and play like that.” 

While Marshall and Luai get to see Laulilii’s skills in daily sessions, Wests Tigers fans and the wider rugby league public are enjoying them too. 

Laulilii scored his second double of the season in the 33-14 win over the Raiders last Thursday showcasing a left-foot step as good that drew comparisons to the legendary Brad Fittler, another icon of the early 2000s.

That step around Matt Timoko gave Wests Tigers their fifth try of the night at Leichhardt. 

“For me I love playing footy and I always go out there with a smile on my face. If I enjoy my footy then the rest just seems to flow,” Laulilii said.  

“What we do in training sessions is play for each other and we do that in games too.”