In appreciation of Marty Banks, the Highlanders’ lucky charm
While most rugby pundits talk up the return of Waisake Naholo, the real reason for the Highlanders’ Super Rugby resurgence has flown under the radar, writes Scotty Stevenson.
In most people’s eyes there was only one star of the show for the Highlanders last weekend in Hamilton, a large Fijian-born winger called Waisake Naholo who returned to action after another layoff due to a broken leg and wreaked merry havoc on the Chiefs’ goal line and their ruck ball. But were we blinded by the light? Does credit for the Highlanders’ most assured performance of the season really deserve to go to someone else?
You’re damn right it does. While the New Zealand rugby public frothed over the return of Naholo (and not without reason, I might add) one Marty Banks, a Reefton native and undisputed champion of terrible banter, also quietly made his return to Super Rugby after a similarly long layoff. Not one pundit or fan gave this revelatory reappearance a second thought. How could this be?
Banks may well be the most talismanic figure in world rugby, albeit one who looks exactly like Screech from Saved By The Bell. Everywhere Banks goes, titles follow. In 2012 he guided his home province Buller to its first ever national championship, setting a new team points record on his way to sharing in the spoils of their first-ever Lochore Cup victory. In 2013, he top scored in the ITM Cup Championship, setting a new Tasman points record as the Makos went on to secure their first-ever national trophy with a 26-25 win over Hawkes Bay. In 2015 he kicked a dropped goal in the dying stages of the Super Rugby final, helping the Highlanders to their first-ever title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl4C03tL2y8
There is a pattern here so obvious that no-one is talking about it. The only New Zealand team he has played for that hasn’t won a title is the Hurricanes. There are two reasons for this: the Hurricanes are cursed, and Banks hardly played a game.
Talk all you want about the Highlanders’ superior control against the Chiefs, or their pin-point aerial masterclass, but let’s be honest, the entire team lifted its game just knowing that Marty Banks was on the bench – none more so than Lima Sopoaga who just knew Banks was waiting to cut his lunch and take his jersey. Lima did the right thing, leaving the field for nine minutes of the first half, just long enough to watch Banks casually slot a goal that in his own words “would have bounced off the upright if it had been given one extra coat of paint”. Always self-deprecating! Marty Banks! What a team man!
Forwards are not immune to Banks’ outsized presence either. Every one of them knows that Banks will play anywhere if it means getting a couple of minutes. How else do you explain Daniel Lienert-Brown’s Banksesque show-and-go try while standing at first receiver, or Dan Pryor’s match-topping 15 tackles. Banks was hovering on the sidelines, whispering sweet nothings in the ear of team manager Moose McLaughlan, just waiting for a chance to play lock.
There is a direct correlation between Banks’ absence and the recent disappearance of the Highlanders’ famed team spirit. Never before has a team relied so much on one man for cheap gags, the kind that settle the nerves and recalibrate a side before battle. Banks has long been the victim of these jokes. As his coach and confidante Tony Brown once said, “All the boys enjoy his company. He tends to take a lot of shit and he tried to give it back but he’s just not as funny as everyone else.”
His Tasman coach, Leon MacDonald says, “He takes a lot of shit, but half the problem is he thinks he’s got great chat.” How can two former All Blacks be wrong? Always the fall guy! Marty Banks! What a team man!
Banks even found the time before the match in Hamilton to share a few quiet words with that other titan of team spirit, Stephen Donald, who when asked how he was going to go running the water for the Chiefs that night remarked, “pretty good I hope, I don’t want to get sacked from this job, too.”
It was just the kind of thing Marty Banks would have said, if he’d thought of it first. Instead he asked if this reporter would be in Dunedin next week, and when the answer was in the affirmative, he replied, “I hope you get dropped and don’t make it.”
Then he went and used up the entire team supply of medical tape and quietly returned to action as the Highlanders quietly returned to form. So you can thank Waisake Naholo for the tries and the turnovers won, and you can thank the coaching staff for the tactical brilliance. But perhaps a nod to the return of Marty Banks is in order – the luckiest of lucky charms who genuinely feels like he’s just lucky to be there.
And who has absolutely no chat.
Comments on RugbyPass
It couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
25 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
13 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
25 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
13 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to comments