It’s been a whirlwind fortnight for Rowan Marshall. Last Thursday he was elevated off the rookie list and named as an emergency against Essendon. Then he warmed up with the team on Friday night, before watching on from the sidelines. Tomorrow he will fly to Sydney with the team and on Saturday he will make his debut on the SCG. Catch your breath.

After being overlooked in three drafts, St Kilda finally rewarded the athletic tall forward last December when they selected the North Ballarat Rooster with pick No. 10 in the Rookie Draft. That reward reached a new level on Thursday when St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson announced in front of the playing group that Marshall would play his first game this weekend.

“I’m over the moon and stoked to be pulling on the Saints jersey for the first time,” Marshall told saints.com.au on Thursday afternoon ahead of St Kilda’s trip to Sydney on Friday.

“When ‘Richo’ read out my name I was really happy. I had no idea (it was going to happen). Obviously after being an emergency last week, leading into the meeting, I was a little bit nervous, and then Richo said it at the start of the meeting.”

With Richardson’s news still ringing in his ears, the 21-year-old phoned home to share the news with his parents. After spending countless hours on the road over the years driving to and from Portland to help their son chase his dream, they'll have to jump in the car again this weekend for another stage of Marshall's journey.

“I rang up Mum and Dad after the meeting and they were stoked; Mum was crying over the phone,” Marshall said. “I’m just really happy for them, all the hard work they’ve put in, all the travel they’ve done. They’ve come to every VFL game this year which is a huge effort living in Portland, which is five hours away; five hours up and five hours back is a big effort.”

At just over 200cm tall and just under 100kgs, Marshall is set to provide St Kilda with another key focal point in attack, alongside six-time Trevor Barker Award winner Nick Riewoldt and mobile key forward Josh Bruce.

“(The instruction is) just to play my role for the team and just be a Saints Man. (The coaches want me) to fly for my marks because that’s obviously one of my strengths, so if the balls in the air I’ve got to go for my marks and if I’m not winning it bring it to ground so our small forwards can get involved,” he said.

After progressing from Portland on the far south-west coast of Victoria to Ballarat, and then to Seaford and Sandringham, Marshall is ready to sink his teeth into the next challenge that awaits, starting at the SCG on Saturday night.

“I’ll probably pretty nervous running out there, but I’ve spoken to a few boys who have debuted this year and they said as soon as the siren goes you’re switched on and you’re in the game. It will certainly be different but I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said.