'He wants players to be able to play four positions': Former All Black critiques Robertson's strategy

Former All Black Justin Marshall has boldly disagreed with All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson over his love of hybrid role players, that allow them to be able to play more than one position on the field.

We’ve already seen multiple players in the spotlight play different positions in 2025 for their Super Rugby Pacific teams, like Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett both playing fullback rather than first-five, and Timoci Tavatavanawai playing second-five rather than on the wing.

But Marshall has questioned the approach that All Blacks coach Robertson has taken so far in the role on Sports Nation’s Bunnings Trade Rugby Run.

“Yeah, I think it’s detrimental to be perfectly honest. I’ll be able to sit down and have a beer with Scott Robertson over this, and he’ll disagree with me because he wants hybrid players,” Marshall said on Sports Nation.

“He wants players that can play at least four positions, in certain jerseys.”

@sportnationnz “They’re not getting enough time in the jersey to go through adversity.” Marshie isn’t a big fan of Scott Robertson’s desire to develop hybrid players over specialists in key positions. Subscribe to The Rugby Run podcast, thanks to @bunnings, available on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. #nzrugby #allblacks #rugbyunion #worldrugby #superrugby #rugbytiktok #newzealand #nztiktok #sportsradio #sportspodcast #bunnings ? original sound – Sport Nation NZ

McKenzie and Barrett have both spent time at both first-five and fullback but have also been used predominantly at No.10 for Robertson’s All Blacks.

Marshall believes that the players aren’t getting enough game time specifically in the jersey that they may wear for the All Blacks.

“But in my mind when I look at some of the key jerseys, and No.10 is another one, do they play fullback? Do they play first five?

“They’re not getting enough time in the jersey to go through adversity, like I’d like to see someone like Damian McKenzie or Beauden Barrett, play the entire Super Rugby competition in that jersey and work their way through problems.

“Being a good 10 is solving problems like in a game, and being able to then change the picture, change the game plan, the dynamic, kick strategy, all of that sort of stuff comes into it.

“You can’t do that when you’re finding yourself in different areas of the field.”

The 81-Test former All Black urges the Super Rugby Pacific coaches to play the people in whatever position they want their players to, rather than what the All Blacks coaches suggest.

“But ultimately if you’re strong enough as a Super Rugby coach, then you know that your head is on the chopping block.

“So you’ve got to pick the players and the jerseys that you feel is going to benefit your team and keep you your job.

“If they raise it, you want him playing 15, but at the end of the day, what’s best for my team now and the way I want to coach a side, is he plays N0.10.”

When Marshall is asked about why Robertson wants to persist with the hybrid roles that players are doing nowadays, he claims that Robertson may feel like the longer they play in his system, the better they will be.

“I guess he could argue that he’s trying to get to a certain place and the team playing a type of game that he feels suits those types of hybrid players, once they grow into it, they will be very hard to stop.”