Rowan Marshall has decided to boycott St Kilda’s best and fairest night on Monday 5 October as the ruckman pushes for a trade to Geelong, SEN and 7NEWS have reported.
The 30-year-old has one year left on his contract and is trying to leave the Saints for the second year in a row. According to SEN’s Tom Morris, Marshall felt it would be disingenuous to attend the awards night while he is trying to be traded to a rival club. The report, also published by 7NEWS, said he feels undervalued and is not comfortable at the club given decisions it has made over the past 12 months.
Where the trade talks stand
SEN reported St Kilda first asked for contracted Cats playmaker Lawson Humphries, then proposed a deal on the weekend that would send pick 14 and 2025 first-round draftee Harley Barker to Moorabbin. Geelong and the players involved rejected both offers.
Geelong’s view, according to the report, is that pick 14 alone is too much for a player who has never been All-Australian, is St Kilda’s second-choice ruck and turns 31 next month.
What the clubs have said
Geelong general manager of football Andrew Mackie told reporters on Monday that the Cats still wanted to get the deal done.
“We have committed to Rowan that we will try to make it happen,” Mackie said.
“I feel like we have got enough that we can get the trades done, but as I said, when you have got contracted players that want to come to your club, it doesn’t make it easy on us or any club.”
Mackie also said pick 14 “is of real value to us”. St Kilda football boss Lenny Hayes has said the club would love to pair Marshall with Tom De Koning again in 2027 and would welcome him back, Zero Hanger reported.
Why it matters
Because Marshall is contracted, St Kilda can hold him unless an acceptable deal is struck. SEN reported that Saints president Andrew Bassat met Marshall after last year’s trade period and promised the club would trade him at the end of 2026 “for a fair deal” if the season did not pan out as the ruckman hoped.
The Cats are also looking for a ruck after Rhys Stanley’s retirement, and have already landed Toby Greene in free agency. It is not the first awards-night flashpoint at Moorabbin: in 2024, SEN reported that Josh Battle was told not to attend after deciding to join Hawthorn.
Clubs have until Wednesday 14 October to finalise trades.
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