You have skipped the navigation, tab for page content
Why Marsters was born to win

If his name is anything to go by then we can expect great things from Wests Tigers rookie Esan Marsters. 

How so, you might be asking yourselves. Well, Esan's middle name is Nike, and in Greek mythology, she is the goddess of victory; a good trait for someone involved in professional sport. 

Fittingly, the 20-year-old has been a revelation at right centre since he made his debut in Round 13, with the former NYC star scoring four tries from nine appearances to sit equal third on the club's try-scorer list in 2017. 

While Greek mythology would provide a fun backstory to explain his cool middle name, there is a far simpler explanation as to how he was given the name Nike. 

"When I was born, my aunty didn't get to choose a name for my older brother so she asked my mum – who's her twin sister – if she could choose a name for me, and my mum told her that she could give me my middle name," Marsters explained to

"At that time she really liked Nike sporting gear so she went from there and my mum agreed. She made nothing of it at the time but now it's a pretty cool story, I guess. 

"I still get a few questions from people who can't believe that's my middle name so it's good ice breaker. At Holy Cross (his high school), they used my middle name and everyone got excited, but now that I'm a bit older I just use my two names."


In a world dominated by personal brands, Marsters admitted he had entertained the idea of being sponsored by the iconic company, and it seems a more than likely scenario given the fact Nike already supplies him with clothing apparel.

"I want to sort that out because my manager already gets me Nike gear for this season so it would make sense for them to hopefully sponsor me one day," he added. 

Just to add further spice to the story, Esan's aunt has a son of her own who is on track to play NRL in the coming years. 

Steven Marsters has been a shining light at fullback and on the wing for the Dragons in the Holden Cup this season and was rewarded for his enterprising play with a call-up to the Junior Kiwis squad for the mid-year Test in Canberra. 

The pair are so close that Esan refers to him as his little brother, while it's also rumoured that Steven has a brilliant middle name of his own; although Esan's mum didn't play any part in it. 

"If you talk to him you'll have to ask him about his middle name because I think it's Hawk," Esan said. 

"I think he gets jealous of me sometimes because his mum named me, but he's playing really good footy at the moment so I'm really proud of him."