WHILE a Heathmere Junior Football Club premiership is high on the list of memorable moments for St Kilda AFL ruckman Rowan Marshall, his 100-game milestone match tonight will add to his impressive resume of achievements.

After getting drafted into the system in 2017, the former Portland footballer has become St Kilda’s mainstay ruckman and a dominant contributor in the competition, seeing him sign a five-year deal last year.

His efforts have led him to the 100-game milestone which will be played out tonight in their clash against Brisbane at Marvel Stadium.

“It’s all gone pretty quickly to be honest,” he said speaking to the Portland Observer on Wednesday.

“I wouldn’t have believed this is where I would be if you told me 10 years ago, I guess a lot of it has been about achieving the next small thing every time and then you get to 100 games and sit back and think wow.

“At first it was about making it onto a list, then it was about playing your first game, then to try and eventually become a regular and then all of a sudden it’s 100 games later.”

There are many highlights across the 100 games, but Marshall said a few in particular stand out.

“I’ve honestly loved all of it; everything I’ve been given the opportunity to do has been awesome,” he said.

“One of my best memories is my first game, even though we got beaten by a fair bit against Sydney just running out against the likes of Buddy (Lance) Franklin and players like that was so cool.

“Believe it or not another favourite part was the COVID year when we were in the hubs – we were lucky and got to go to Noosa and it was good fun, we all got a lot tighter after living up there together for however long.”

While the milestone game holds some significance to Marshall, he has his sights set on taking on top-four team Brisbane at 7.50pm tonight with the prime time clash a fifth-place versus fourth-place blockbuster.

“At the end of the day it is another game and Brisbane are in good form so it should be good,” Marshall said.

“We’re confident if we come out and play our brand of football it stacks up against the best, so we’ll put that to the test.”

Adding to the occasion is the match in honour of St Kilda great Danny Frawley with the Spud’s Game: A Match for Mental Health initiative raising funds for various mental health programs run out of the Danny Frawley Centre.

“It has been a big week and there is fair bit going on at the club for the Danny Frawley game,” Marshall said.

“All of the money raised this week and at the game will go towards the mental health initiatives being run from the Danny Frawley Centre which is at the club, and they do some great stuff.

“I think these days talking about mental health is becoming a big part of society and we all know people who have difficulties with their mental health at different points in life so it’s great to play in a game that will raise so much money and hopefully start some conversations.”

The 100-game journey is the fruition of a lot of time and effort that was put in prior to reaching AFL level which Marshall says he has a lot to thank his parents, Ron and Jan Marshall, for.

“Mum and dad are the biggest people to thank for me, they have made so many journeys over the years and helped out and supported me the whole way,” he said.

“They were a massive influence in my success in the early days and even now, the whole family has been.

“There has also been a lot of coaches who have been really important throughout my time, at the Portland Football Netball Club and at the Heathmere Junior Football Club – I still remember winning our premiership there that was so good.”