[1] Rowan Marshall was born in 1995 to mother Jan and father Don (a Taranaki rugby union player), the eldest of three brothers.

In his penultimate year of high school at Bayview College, Marshall was invited to train with the Greater Western Victoria Rebels.

[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.

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.

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.

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 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.