This week for 'Forever Green: Where are they now?' we catch up with Marshall Chalk who spent five seasons with the club.
Marshall Chalk
Canberra Raider #248
Appearances 71
What do you do for work now?
I've taken over the family farm from my parents. I'm the fourth generation on our farm so we have had it for a while.
What's your favourite memory as a Raider?
Making my debut is right up there and I also scored four tries in my second game so to get an opportunity and be successful pretty much straight away was very pleasing.
The first try was off a bomb from Mark McLinden and that was my first try in the NRL which we'd been planning all week and it came off. The next two were just ones passed along the line and I was the winger outside Joel Monaghan and just put the finishing touch. The last one was off a drop out and I caught it and ran straight back through them.
There were a few opportunities late in the game to grab a fifth to equal Mal Meninga but everyone kept making breaks and scoring themselves! Four in any game is special but to do it in the top level was surreal especially in my second game.
What did it mean to you to wear the Raiders jersey?
Before I got the opportunity to come down here, I didn't know a great deal about the town. All I knew was the Queenslanders that were down there like Mal and Kevvie Walters that were from Ipswich where I played before I went down there.
To know they'd been through the system down there was pretty special to be following in those footsteps and to play with all the guys I'd seen on TV like Ruben Wiki was really special.
Who was your favourite teammate?
Probably Ruben Wiki and I think a lot of guys would say Ruben as well. He was a guy that always had time for you even when I was coming through reserve grade. He'd come out to dinner with us and see us at training which was really nice.
Do you keep in touch with any of your former teammates?
Dane Tilse, I talk to him a fair bit. Ben Cross is one that I'm good friends with. Jarred Lawrence who I played a fair bit of reserve grade with and I catch up with him every year for a holiday because our families know each other and get along really well.
Do you have any advice for younger players?
Just embrace it and don't let your opportunities go to waste. At the time, you don't really realise how special it is, so give it everything you've got and you never know when the opportunity might pass you by.
