Rowan Marshall

Rowan Marshall
Marshall playing for St Kilda in April 2019
Personal information
Full name	Rowan Marshall
Date of birth	(1995-11-24) 24 November 1995 (age 28)
Place of birth	Taranaki, New Zealand
Original team(s)	North Ballarat (VFL)
Draft	No. 10, 2017 rookie draft
Debut	Round 18, 2017, St Kilda  vs. Sydney, at Sydney Cricket Ground
Height	201 cm (6 ft 7 in)
Weight	105 kg (231 lb)
Position(s)	Ruck
Club information
Current club	St Kilda
Number	19
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2017–	St Kilda	91 (45)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 5, 2023.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Rowan Marshall (born 24 November 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by St Kilda with their first selection and tenth overall in the 2017 rookie draft. ^[1]

AFL career

Rowan Marshall was born in 1995 to mother Jan and father Don (a Taranaki rugby union player), the eldest of three brothers. ^[2] Rowan moved with his parents to Queensland at the age of 18 months. ^[2] At the age of 3, the family relocated to Victoria settling on a farm at Bolwarra. ^[2]

Marshall participated in the Auskick program at Ballarat, Victoria ^[3] As a junior, Marshall was attracted to the sport instead of his father's and cousins' preference of Rugby Union. In his penultimate year of high school at Bayview College, Marshall was invited to train with the Greater Western Victoria Rebels. Training with the rebels involved a 3-hour each way journey for Marshall, and he played seven games for the club. ^[4] In 2013 he joined the Portland Tigers in the inaugural Hampden League where he played 12 under-18s matches and kicked three goals in a losing grand final. The following year in 2014 Marshall played for the North Ballarat Rebels and was included in the Vic Country team. Against the Murray Bushrangers in June Marshall was moved into the forward line in the fourth quarter to kick three important match-winning goals, and he recorded 50-plus hit-outs in two consecutive games, against Geelong Falcons and Eastern Ranges, in July. ^[5] At the end of the season he was invited to the draft combine and was interviewed by several clubs. However, Marshall was not selected in the 2014 AFL Draft. He continued playing in Ballarat with the North Ballarat Roosters and Ballarat league side Sebastopol, and studied at Federation University. Marshall finally met with St Kilda in 2016, who had been scouting him. Marshall was ultimately drafted in the Rookie Draft on 28 November 2016.

Early St Kilda Career 2017-2020

Marshall made his St Kilda debut in the forty-two point loss to Sydney at the Sydney Cricket Ground in round eighteen of the 2017 season. ^[6] At the end of the 2017 season, Marshall signed a two-year contract extension. ^[7]

In the 2018 season, Marshall played 12 senior games for St Kilda and was elevated to the senior playing list following the season, having spent 2 seasons on the rookie list. ^[8]

Marshall played 20 senior games in the 2019 season, averaging 29 hitouts and 18 disposals. He finished second in the club's best & fairest award, behind midfielder Seb Ross, as well as receiving the club's Lenny Hayes Players' Player Award, as voted by his teammates. Marshall also collected 7 Brownlow Medal votes in 2019, as well as being acknowledged by Champion Data as the most improved player in the AFL based on statistics. ^[9]

Marshall was partnered in the ruck with Paddy Ryder for the 2020 season, after playing predominantly as a sole ruckman the previous season. In a Covid-limited season, Marshall played a key role in the Saints' reaching finals for the first time since 2011, playing all 19 possible games which included two finals.

2021 Season

See also: 2021 St Kilda Football Club Season

Marshall suffered a stress injury in his foot ahead of the 2021 season, and missed the first three matches of the year. Marshall returned to the side in the Round Four win over West Coast, but missed the Saints' Round Five loss to Richmond due to a five-day break with the Saints' medical staff recommending a cautious approach following a plantar fascia injury in the West Coast game. Marshall returned in Round 6 and played four games before further injuring his plantar fascia and undergoing surgery. Marhsall made his return from injury in Round 15. Marshall and teammate Darragh Joyce were forced into isolation after they attended a Wallabies game which turned out to be a COVID-19 hotspot. ^[10] As a result, Marshall, who had flown to Perth, missed the Saints' Round 19 clash with West Coast which St Kilda lost by eight points.Marshall returned the following week, after completing isolation, and played in the Saints' final four games of the season. In his return against Carlton in Round 20, Marshall had 46 hitouts, five tackles, one goal and 22 disposals. Marshall also impressed with 22 disposals and two goals against Fremantle in Round 23.

Personal life

Marshall was born in New Zealand to Kiwi parents but moved to a 40-hectare property in Portland, Victoria at a young age. His father Don played rugby in the Taranaki region, and worked at the Portland wharf as well as on the family farm. Marshall's cousins, Rhys Marshall and Callum Gibbins, are both professional rugby union players. ^[4] During the COVID-19 hiatus of the AFL season in 2020, Marshall assisted his family run their 320 head of cattle farm. ^[11]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of Round 23 2022 ^[12]

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks	H/O	Hit-outs

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals								Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	H/O	G	B	K	H	D	M	T	H/O
2017	St Kilda	43	1	0	0	5	9	14	4	2	5	0	0	5	9	14	4	2	5
2018	St Kilda	43	12	6	12	85	75	160	67	28	113	0.5	1.0	7.0	6.2	13.3	5.5	2.3	9.4
2019	St Kilda	19	20	8	2	198	157	355	83	69	569	0.9	0.4	9.9	7.8	17.7	4.1	3.4	28.4
2020 [lower-alpha 1]	St Kilda	19	19	13	11	192	83	266	83	41	277	0.6	0.5	10.1	3.8	14.0	4.3	2.1	14.5
2021	St Kilda	19	13	9	5	137	66	203	63	39	241	0.6	0.3	10.5	5.0	15.6	4.8	3.0	18.5
2022	St Kilda	19	21	9	7	218	118	336	97	66	484	0.4	0.3	10.3	5.6	16.0	4.6	3.1	23.0
Career			86	45	38	835	499	1334	397	245	1689	0.5	0.4	9.7	5.8	15.5	4.6	2.8	19.6

Notes

1. The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. Gabelich, Josh (28 November 2016). "St Kilda Rookie Pick No. 10: Rowan Marshall". Saints.com.au. Bigpond . Retrieved 23 July 2017.
2. Rowan Marshall takes giant strides towards AFL JUSTINE McCULLAGH-BEASY for The Standard. NOVEMBER 19 2014
3. AFL Record. Round 9, 2022. pg 60
4. Ryan, Peter (8 May 2020). "Saints' next big thing comes from rugby roots". The Age . Retrieved 27 May 2020.
5. McCULLAGH-BEASY, JUSTINE (19 November 2014). "Rowan Marshall takes giant strides towards AFL". The Standard. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
6. Cherny, Daniel (20 July 2017). "Rowan Marshall to debut for St Kilda v Sydney on Saturday night". The Age . Fairfax Media . Retrieved 23 July 2017.
7. Gabelich, Josh (5 September 2017). "Late season reward driving Marshall forward". saints.com.au. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
8. Ryan, Michael (26 October 2018). "Marshall's reward". saints.com.au. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
9. Nice, Chris (4 December 2019). "Marshall bolts up rankings". saints.com.au. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
10. "Saints star forced into isolation after Melbourne pub exposed to COVID case". 7NEWS. 20 July 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
11. Ryan, Peter (8 May 2020). "Saints' next big thing comes from rugby roots". The Age. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
12. "Rowan Marshall". AFL Tables. Retrieved 17 April 2021.

External links

• Rowan Marshall's profile on the official website of the St Kilda Football Club
• Rowan Marshall's playing statistics from AFL Tables