PJ Marsh

Peter-John "PJ" Marsh (born 19 February 1980 in Gladstone, Queensland) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s. A Queensland State of Origin representative hooker, he played his club football in the NRL for the Parramatta Eels, New Zealand Warriors and Brisbane Broncos.

Background Named after his uncle, Peter John Marsh, who was killed in a car accident before PJ was born, he attended and played rugby league for St. Brendan's College, Yeppoon. Marsh is of distant Aboriginal descent. He is also Christian.

Playing career Marsh played for the Central Queensland Capras in the 1998 Queensland Cup. Marsh began his NRL career at the Parramatta Eels and made his first grade debut on 23 April 2000 against the Newcastle Knights. Marsh played in Parramatta's preliminary final defeat by the Brisbane Broncos during the same year.

In the 2001 NRL season, Marsh made 22 appearances as Parramatta won the minor premiership after losing only 2 games all year in the regular season. Marsh played for Parramatta from the bench in their 2001 NRL grand final loss to the Newcastle Knights. Parramatta had gone into the match as heavy favourites and the grand final loss has been described as one of the biggest upsets of all time.

Marsh then moved to the New Zealand Warriors. He made his Queensland debut in the 2002 State of Origin series, playing in games I and III. He later also played games in the 2003 and 2008 State of Origin series.

He started for the Warriors at hooker in their 2002 NRL Grand Final loss to the Sydney Roosters. In the Round 14 game against Parramatta on 14 June 2003, Marsh sustained a serious neck injury during a relatively minor crusher tackle by Parramatta second-rower Darren Treacy.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph in 2022, Marsh recalled hearing a couple of cracking noises during the tackle, then feeling an intense pain throughout his entire body as he attempted to play the ball, stating: "It scared the absolute shit out of me. You try to wiggle your toes and move your fingers. It's a shocking fear. They put me in a brace. Then an ambulance. Then hospital and I couldn't move for two days." During the regular season, Marsh was involved in an incident with Dragons captain Trent Barrett in which he carelessly made contact with him, resulting in Barrett retaliating by striking Marsh and receiving a one-match suspension from the incident.

Marsh's final game for Parramatta was the club's preliminary final defeat by Melbourne in the 2007 preliminary final.

In November 2007, Marsh signed a three-year deal with the Brisbane Broncos and returned to his home state of Queensland.

Marsh has said he didn't consider himself to be the same player during his final years with Parramatta and Brisbane, following the neck injury he sustained in 2003.

Because of his experience, Marsh is advocating for a crackdown on dangerous tackles in rugby league by having stronger penalties and deterrents including more sin binning and suspensions.

Marsh's daughter Waverley played for The Highlanders at Murri Rugby League Carnival in 2021 where she scored nine tries and was named in the Queensland Merit team. She was also part of the winning "beef" team in the annual Beef Vs Reef game at Browne Park in Rockhampton in 2022.

In 2022, Marsh's youngest son Jay played for Yeppoon Seagulls Under 14's team competing in the Junior Rocky Rustlers rugby league competition.