Esan Marsters

Esan Marsters
Personal information
Full name Esan Nike Marsters-Saivale
Born (1996-08-17) 17 August 1996
Auckland, New Zealand
Height 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 105 kg (16 st 7 lb)
Playing information
Position Centre, Second-row, Lock

Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2017– Wests Tigers 37 8 55 0 142
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2015–17 Cook Islands 2 1 0 0 4
2018 New Zealand 1 1 0 0 4
As of 21 July 2018
Source: [1]

Esan Marsters (born 17 August 1996) is a Cook Islands international rugby league footballer who plays for the Wests Tigers in the National Rugby League. Marsters primarily plays as a centre but can also fill in as a second row and lock.

Background

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Marsters is of Cook Island descent. He played for Mount Albert Lions in New Zealand, later saying, "I played in the halves growing up. I was a five-eighth, like Benji. That’s where I get my ball skills from. Then I moved over to Sydney from Auckland when I was 17 and got switched to the centres. I was bigger than a lot of the other kids and they wanted to use me out wide."[2] Marsters picked up a contract with the Sydney Roosters to train with their SG Ball team. After spending a season with Roosters SG Ball team he was cut and signed a contract with the Wests Tigers NYC team.

Playing career

Early career

In 2015 and 2016, Marsters played for the Wests Tigers' NYC before graduating to their Intrust Super Premiership NSW team in 2017.

Marsters played for the Cook Islands in their 2015 match against Tonga. In 2016 he represented the Junior Kiwis in a match against the Junior Kangaroos.[3]

2017

On the 6th of May, Marsters represented the Cook Islands in their 2017 Pacific Rugby League Tests match.

In Round 13, Marsters made his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers against the St George Illawarra Dragons, playing off the interchange bench in the 16-12 loss at ANZ Stadium. After playing on the bench for his first 2 games, he was in the starting team for the rest of the season, where he was described as, "a revelation at right centre".[4] He scored 5 tries from 13 games in his rookie year.

2018

Marsters was said to be one of the most improved players in the game in 2018, and, "has been stellar in 2018, to the point he made his New Zealand Test debut and has claims on being one of the form centres right across the NRL."[5] He was one of two players to appear in every game for the Tigers and was their top point-scorer with 124.[6] The Daily Telegraph named in their team of the year, saying, "he was the only centre to crack 3000 metres gained and his 126 metres per match was the biggest average of any centre who played at least 15 games. He also lead all centres in offloads with 49 and was fifth in tackle busts with 65."[7]

References

  1. ↑ Rugby League Project
  2. ↑ Esan Marsters. "Benji, Ivan and Me". PlayersVoice. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "Marsters named in Junior Kiwis squad". Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  4. ↑ Martin Gabor. "Why Marsters was born to win". nrl.com.
  5. ↑ Chris Kennedy. "Stat Attack: The 17 most-improved players of 2018". nrl.com.
  6. ↑ "Wests Tigers 2018". Rugby League Project.
  7. ↑ "Team of the Year". The Daily Telegraph. p. 94.
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