Four years ago, James Marshall was at the Hurricanes undergoing hip surgery, an operation that brought his rugby-playing career to an end.
“It was always spoken about, but I found it really hard to plan for,” Marshall said.
“Even right up until the moment it happened, I still had real anxiety around what it was going to look like for me.”
The current Crusaders backs coach taught at Nelson College before landing on podcasting in tandem with coaching.
Aptly named ‘What a Lad’ the podcast sees Marshall use his footy connections to interview former and current players about their careers and lives outside sport.
He has recorded episodes with Crusaders including Will Jordan, Sevu Reece and Codie Taylor.
From a makeshift set-up in a spare room at Rugby Park Marshall’s podcast has now turned into a highly-produced internet show out of Red Nine Studios in the city centre, listened to by more than 10,000 people across all platforms every week.
“I get recognised more for the podcast than ever in my playing days, which is pretty cool.”
The idea was sparked while playing in Japan. During training, Marshall would chuck his headphones on and listen to podcasts.
“Ardie (Savea) was doing one at the time and I was really enjoying that because it was with a lot of the guys I played with, but I was learning stuff I never knew.
“It just wasn’t regular enough. I was like, ‘far out, someone else needs to do something there’ and I thought why not me?”
When Covid-19 hit and forced everyone indoors, it provided Marshall with the opportunity to give it a crack.
“I gave myself the goal of doing seven episodes. I had heard that 80 per cent of podcasts didn’t get past that mark, so that was my first goal. I enjoyed it and have just kept going since.”
Podcasting has been one of the fastest-growing media genres over the past decade, reaching 546.7 million listeners in 2024.
The medium has spread to the sporting world, with current and former athletes opting to make their own shows rather than presenting on mainstream channels.
Marshall believes this is indicative of a changing media landscape.
“I think media is slowly going there and there’s so much space, especially in the rugby game, for players to jump on if they wanted to.”
The longer and less structured format allows the traditionally stoic rugby players to show who they are off the field.
“It gives you a better access to the player and an idea of what they’re really like.
“People are afraid to be themselves, which is a shame. I think the more guys can be themselves, the better the game is, the more entertaining it is, the more engaged everyone is,” said Marshall.
“I think rugby has come a long way and it’s continually growing in that space.”
Marshall said he loved learning the stories on his podcast.
“Just getting to hear the journey that guys go through, the highs and lows of a career in sport, and the beauty of hosting it is, I get to ask the questions I’ve always wanted to know.”
A real “pinch me” moment for Marshall was getting to chat with childhood hero and All Blacks legend Christian Cullen.
“That was pretty awesome. He’s someone who I never thought I’d be able to sit down and have a conversation with, but with the podcast I got to do that.
“As someone who basically remembers all his games, it was cool to hear how he was going into those games and what he was thinking and feeling at the time.”
A favourite episode was hard to pick as the podcast contrasts the hilarity of Charlie Gubb and the impact of former teammate Michael Fatialofa’s story.
“He became paraplegic from the neck down from just a normal tackle. It was pretty powerful to hear what he had to go through and how he’s pulled his way back to being able to walk again and get into some sort of normal life.”
The former Hurricane cited episodes with Dane Coles and Beauden Barrett as watersheds for What a Lad, taking him to new heights in terms of numbers.
The most viewed episode is with ex-Blues player Kane Barrett, amassing more than 35,000 views on YouTube alone.
Marshall has big plans to expand the brand beyond the podcast, but the obstacle is time.
“Obviously, it’s hard with my coaching role growing as well. I’m not sure how it’s going to look in the next three to four years, but I just want to keep chipping away.”
If coaching did end, the podcast is in a position where Marshall could make it a full-time gig.
“I’d look to try and take the podcasting to a new level.”
