'Shut up to that': Benji Marshall slams critics of Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson

NRL great Benji Marshall has defended embattled Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson after claims were made the 31-year-old should give up the game and announce his retirement.

The former Kiwis playmaker gave a passionate rebuttal in Johnson’s defence after the Warriors slumped to their seventh straight loss of the season against Penrith.

Johnson has come under fire for his form since returning to his old club where he played for eight seasons, however with the Warriors based in north Brisbane instead of New Zealand they have been separated from their families.

“On the weekend I heard calls for him to think about retiring – maybe he should think about his legacy and give it away. I say shut up to that. Because that’s up to Shaun,” Marshall said on the Triple M radio show.

“No one can understand how hard it’s been off the field for a lot of the Warriors players especially Shaun not having his wife and his kids with him.

“I think once he finds peace with that and gets back to his family and he can reassess where he’s at. That’s up to him whether he wants to retire or not.

“I don’t think he has to go and say ‘yip, I’m done this season’. He’s not done. If he wants it bad enough he can come back and do it.

“I feel like some of that criticism he cops, okay we understand he’s not playing his best or the best that we’ve seen from him but that doesn’t mean he needs to think about retiring.

Johnson left the Cronulla Sharks to rejoin the Warriors on a two-year deal until the end of 2023, but some of the talk has been that the Warriors should release their playmaker at the end of this season.

Marshall said that taking that option wouldn’t be fair and the club should take every step to help Johnson find his best form again.

“That’s okay but I don’t think it’s fair. And if they are thinking about that then maybe find a way to support the guy and help him bring out his best because they’re the ones who signed him.”

Marshall, who won a premiership with Wests Tigers in 2005 as a live wire No 6, believes one solution involves moving Johnson to five-eighth in order to use his strongest asset.

“Everyone has this opinion about Shaun and an expectation about the way he plays and I’ve spoken about it before…he’s been taken to the Warriors to be a game manager slash, put their side in good field position and just kick the footy, which has never been his strength,” he said.

“I feel like his strength is his running game, and if I was them I would move him to five-eighth.”