Gold Coast Suns coach Stuart Dew has backed in former number one pick Matt Rowell as the 20-year-old struggles to replicate his staggering best football early in the 2022 AFL season.
Rowell dominated in the side’s round one win over West Coast, earning the maximum 10 coaches’ votes, but has been much less influential in the four games since as a combination of run-with roles and attention from the opposition have seen his overall numbers drop.
While Rowell’s contested possession game remains supreme, the star prospect has struggled to find uncontested possessions and influence on the outside of the contest - something Dew said will take time.
“I think he’s adjusting. What is he on, 20 games? He’s come from under 18s where he’s the go-to, he’s the natural ball winner. It’s only natural that he’s gonna have to find another way because it is a different game and he can’t keep doing that,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“We’re happy with his progress. People go back to his first three games and he has hasn’t been a 30-plus possession game player, he’s actually your low-to-mid 20s but hits the scoreboard so he’s finding his way.
“Definitely last year he needed a good pre-season, he had that and we think he’ll continue to evolve. What he is building is a really good synergy with his mates Touk Miller, Noah Anderson and Brayden Fiorini and working with Wittsy (ruckman Jarrod Witts) as well after not having him last year, Wittsy can start to hit that ball out a little bit more than being able to get dictated by the opposition.
“I don’t know if it’s criticism, he’s probably just learning his way and we’re trying to help him with that. One thing you know is he’s desperate to impact games and at times they (the opposition) know that and they’re all over him.”
Despite his struggles on the stats sheet, Rowell’s fitness remains remarkable at this early stage of his development.
Highlighting his fitness, Dew pointed to a challenge in 2020 to climb Mount Everest (digitally) via bike.
“I’ve never seen anything so physical ... that was unbelievable and it showed the mental toughness of the kid at that time,” Dew recalled.
“I remember Alex Rigby, our high performance manager, he said he just shouldn’t be able to do that. He could’ve kept going.”
