Benji Marshall's 1 st game for his school Keebra Park State High School on Queenslands Gold Coast was a fair dinkum blinder.

By full-time, the then 16-year-old from Whakatane in New Zealand's North Island had adapted to the game so quickly he was being offered a scholarship by the Gold Coast school.

In the 18 months since, Marshall has won player of the tournament at the touch football world cup and the Australian schools rugby league championships and landed a three-year contract with Wests Tigers.

It's been a hell of a journey and one not many teenagers could handle.

Canberra winger Jamaal Lolesi and former Sydney Roosters prop Dallas Hood are recent examples and last Sunday, Marshall joined them when he played 50 minutes at fullback and halfback against Newcastle

What sets Marshall apart is not just his long passes, bamboozling side-step and brilliant kicking game, but the confidence he possessed to take on the Tigers' playmaking role and call the shots in the final 20 minutes of his debut.

"I was sort of brought up with all of my uncles so I probably grew up before my age playing with adults all of the time."

His mother, Lidia, was 16 when he was born and because she was so young he was raised by other family members, Michael and Annalie Doherty, until the age of seven.

"I've got two families, but I've called them mum and dad ever since," he said. "Then there's my mother and my two little brothers [Jordan and Jeremy]. I don't know my father, but all of my uncles are like fathers to me so I can't complain."

Yet when Marshall was offered the chance to join the professional football program at Keebra Park High after playing in a trial against an elite Canberra team while on a school trip to the Gold Coast in late 2001, his family was happy for him to make the move.

"It was only a year out of my life so if things didn't work out I could always go home. But coming here is probably the best thing I could have done for myself. Through the school I've learnt so much, I'm pretty lucky."

After finishing Year 12 in November, Marshall will move to Sydney to begin full-time training with the Tigers, and Lenton has no doubt he has a big future.

"He's got the potential to go right to the top of the game," Lenton said. "When we first saw him, he was woeful. He didn't have a clue so we took him off but then late in the game, after we put him back on, he picked the ball up and ran about 50 metres to score against quite good opposition.