The eyes have it the secrets behind Josh Schusters no-look pass

Straight after Josh Schuster made his NRL debut last season, Benji Marshall walked over to a microphone for a post-game interview and said: “The best debut I’ve seen from a young kid in my time, ever”.

It was some statement, particularly given in the latter years of his career Marshall hasn’t been known for hyperbole. But he could see the rare talent in Schuster, and maybe more than a few similarities to himself.

Josh Schuster sets up a try for Manly against Parramatta in May.Credit:NRL

Of all the tricks Marshall boasted when he burst onto the scene - the wicked acceleration, the step which could break defenders’ ankles, the goosey, the bullet-like passes - it was the eyes which were perhaps the most mesmerising.

He would goad a defender into a staring contest, and when he finally caught the eyes he would throw the ball in the other direction without even looking. Whoosh! And suddenly a teammate was in space.

Almost two decades on, Schuster is taking everyone on a trip down memory lane. It’s a skill few try these days for fear of upsetting their percentage-driven coaches.

“But we encouraged it,” says Manly’s recruitment boss Scott Fulton, who with his late father Bob signed Schuster virtually on the spot as a 14-year-old at a junior league game.

Manly’s Josh Schuster has incredible athletic ability.Credit:Getty

“There were consequences [in a game if it went wrong], but he was never ever going to get into trouble. That’s what we’re like, try it and if it doesn’t work, try it again.”

On the same afternoon the Sea Eagles were grieving the death of Bob Fulton earlier this year, Schuster had his breakout game against the Eels at Bankwest Stadium.

It was only a couple of weeks after his 20th birthday, but with Kieran Foran unavailable, coach Des Hasler told the once-burly kid he would be playing five-eighth. It was the first time he’d played there all year. Schuster gave Parramatta centre Waqa Blake a frightful afternoon, running at him, daring him to lock eyes and then throwing passes to Karl Lawton and Tom Trbojevic while looking in another direction. Both resulted in tries.

In commentary, eighth Immortal Andrew Johns watched a replay of Schuster’s eyes: “That’s incredible - again”.

“If a defender is out of position or I connect eyes with him, I know I’ve got him.”

Josh Schuster

So how does Schuster know when a defence is vulnerable to his no-look pass?

“If a defender is out of position or I connect eyes with him, I know I’ve got him,” he says. “Then I have the best player [Trbojevic] playing fullback, he will be there 24-7. He plays a huge part for me, knowing he’s going to be out the back.

“But I’m just a really instinctive footy player. There’s a couple of ways I can attract players, but that just comes naturally to me because I’ve been doing it since I was a kid.”

For his part, Schuster reckons Hasler hasn’t berated him about the pass, which has also gone awry a few times in recent months. The mad scientist has been around too long to know you don’t coach a rare skill like that out of a rare player, who is tipped to take Foran’s No.6 when the time is right.

Josh Schuster and Daly Cherry-Evans celebrate another Sea Eagles try.Credit:Getty

For all the plaudits Dally M favourite Trbojevic, rightfully, has received this year, Schuster and Foran have helped engineer the space he thrives in on Manly’s lethal left edge.

Scott Fulton has seen thousands of kids over the years, but few have been as gifted as Schuster, who has also taken to holding the ball out in one hand like it’s the size of a grape, despite having two or three defenders trying to turn him into a pretzel.

“He’s just a big-featured kid and that probably came about in the juniors because he was so much bigger than them, there could be two or three tackling him and then he would just pop the ball out,” Fulton says. “That’s just carried on to first grade.

“Turbo being Turbo, he can read [the no-look pass]. It’s a bit like [Steve] Menzies used to be able to read [Cliff Lyons], or anyone for that matter. Beaver could really read it, and Tom is the same.

Schuster does it again during Manlys big win over Cronulla last month.Credit:NRL

“They don’t know whether [Schuster’s] going to run or he’s going to pass. That’s the beauty of what he can do. Not many back-rowers ... actually, I don’t think any back-rowers can do that bar him.”

As a child, Schuster would walk across the road to a park from his western Sydney home and practise with his father for hours on end. There was a pole he would pass and kick the ball at relentlessly, so much so his mother Jackie reckons he wore a tiny indent into it.

While he’ll be the first to admit he’s had to work hard to have his body ready for the rigours of the NRL, the skill has come a lot easier.

“I used to pack my bag for school with no books, just a footy,” Schuster says. “That was every day. I used to love just having a football in my hands. I tried to spend as much time with it. I would just be at the park for a couple of hours, playing with my mates, cousins ... anyone else who was around the ’hood.”

On Friday night, Schuster will step into a playground with Marshall as a spot in the grand final goes on the line. If Manly can cause an upset against South Sydney, it will most likely be Benji’s last NRL game. He played his first NRL game when Schuster was just two.

But in the once-chubby kid playing in Manly’s back row, a part of his legacy lives on.

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