Matthew Rowell injury opens door for Max King to win Rising Star award
Matt Rowell was the undisputed favourite to take out the Rising Star award until his devastating injury. And a young star looms as the next in line, with similarities to a St Kilda great. Decide who you think will take out the prize.
Gold Coast
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Matthew Rowell’s dislocated shoulder has opened the door for St Kilda spearhead Max King to follow in Nick Riewoldt’s footsteps and win the Rising Star wearing the club’s No.12 jumper.
The Saints have not produced a Rising Star since Riewoldt in 2002, when the blonde bombshell and No.1 draft pick (2000) outpolled the “super draft” headliners Chris Judd and Luke Hodge.
King and Riewoldt both had their first AFL seasons ruined by injuries to their right knee however Riewoldt played every game in his second year and polled Brownlow Medal votes five times.
Rowell is set to sent in for surgery, which would likely put an end to his season after just five games.
King is yet to be officially nominated but the TAB will crunch him into a $3.50 favourite when the market reopens if Rowell’s season is over.
Greater Western Sydney onballer Tom Green, Fremantle wingman Hayden Young and Suns midfielder Noah Anderson will also threaten while Gold Coast playmaker Izak Rankine is set to make his debut on Saturday.
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But King’s incredible athleticism as a 202cm marking forward who is agile at ground level makes him the standout prospect.
The Saints have targeted King inside 50m more than any other player this year (23 times) and he has taken six marks near the goals.
Twin brother Ben King (Gold Coast) is ineligible for the Rising Star due to playing more than 10 games last season.
Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton worked with Max King at Moorabbin last year and said he has never seen a footballer mark the ball at such a high point.
With outstretched arms and an impressive leap it is estimated that King can mark the ball about 320cm above the ground, making life a nightmare for defenders.
King, who turned 19 on Tuesday, booted two goals in the first half against former No.1 pick and early All-Australian contender Jacob Weitering (Carlton) last week.
The All-Australian selectors and AFL talent boss Kevin Sheehan will vote 5-4-3-2-1 on the Rising Star at the completion of the home-and-away season.
They are instructed to vote subjectively on who they believe the best players were, based on output rather than potential.
Rowell is every chance to have collected the maximum nine Brownlow votes from Rounds 2-4 as the powerful midfielder kicked six goals and led the Suns to three-straight victories.
There are no criteria stipulating a minimum number of games to win the Rising Star and the Rowell debate is unchartered territory where an odds-on favourite has gone down so early in the season.
But judges traditionally discount players from All-Australian contention if they have missed more than a quarter of the season and if that logic is applied then Rowell will be overlooked.
They must decide whether Rowell’s unstoppable impact in four complete games beats a full campaign from a prospect such as King or Green.
Theoretically, Rowell could win back-to-back Rising Star awards although softening the blow of overlooking him this year would be the fact that Rowell would start a hot favourite to pocket the 2021 Rising Star.
King is averaging 1.4 goals, 3.2 score involvements, 1.4 contested marks and 1.6 forward 50m groundballs this year.
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BROWNLOW BETTING SUSPENDED ON GUN SUN ROWELL
— Reece Homfray
Brownlow Medal betting on Gold Coast young gun Matt Rowell has been suspended while the club waits to learn of the extent of his shoulder injury.
Rowell arrived in Wollongong with his teammates about 1am on Sunday but may not know of how serious his right shoulder injury is until Monday as the club tries to find somewhere for him to have scans.
The Suns’ latest No. 1 draft pick was third favourite in betting for the Brownlow Medal at $8 behind Lachie Neale ($4) and Patrick Cripps ($7) before Round 5.
He was also a red-hot $1.01 favourite for the AFL’s Rising Star award when he was tackled by Geelong’s Brandan Parfitt in the opening quarter at GMHBA Stadium and dislocated his right shoulder.
Rowell took no further part in the game despite wanting to return to the field and had his arm in a sling post-match.
The Suns had an epic day on Saturday, meeting at the club on the Gold Coast at 8am, flying to Geelong to play the Cats, then flying to Sydney where they checked into their hotel about 1am Sunday.
Rowell flew with the team into their hub at Wollongong and believed to be in good spirits despite the setback.
CATS CHAMPS’ CLASSY GESTURE TO INJURED SUN
There was already enough air taken out of this game with no crowd on hand to witness the double milestone of two Geelong greats.
But that was tempered to a degree with the prospect of the game’s latest superstar Matt Rowell getting to go up against the likes of Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett.
Rowell had been compared to the Cats skipper given the impact he’d had on the competition in such a short time.
And Selwood made sure early that the kid knew he was around, giving him a clip over the head in the opening few seconds for which Rowell received a free-kick.
The stage was set. Unfortunately the show only lasted 13 minutes.
When Rowell hit the deck after a Brandan Parfitt tackle the whole football world held its breath. It was obvious his shoulder had popped out and the worst was confirmed shortly afterwards.
Geelong were already leading by three goals and the whiff of doom and gloom around the Suns was overwhelming.
But that was the outfit formally known as the Gold Coast Suns, not the 2020 version.
With Rowell gone, it was another young gun in Ben King who took over centre stage kicking three goals in the second quarter to reduce the margin to just four points at halftime.
Then consecutive goals to Gold Coast full-forward Sam Day inside the opening five minutes of the third term had the Suns leading by eight points.
None of this was in the script for what was supposed to be a celebration of Selwood’s 300th and Ablett’s 350th games.
A brilliant end-to-end passage of play which resulted in a Parfitt goal at the nine-minute mark seemed to spark the home team.
They kicked four of the next five goals of the third quarter to turn the game on its head and ensure their two superstars would remember their milestones for the right reasons.
IT was no surprise that Selwood enjoyed stepping into the milestone spotlight.
The Cats skipper put his head in places where he shouldn’t all night, just like he did when he started 13 years ago.
Selwood was easily one of the best players on the ground collecting 22 disposals which included 14 contested possessions, eight tackles and five clearances.
It was a different story for Ablett who didn’t have a great night and seemed out of sorts with several stints on the bench where he was engaging with the club’s medical staff.
The highlight came in the final five minutes when the 36-year-old wound back the clock, nailing a set shot from 52m out. He finished with 14 touches.
In a wonderful gesture, Selwood approached Rowell after the game to make sure he was all right.
HAWKINS TURNS ON THE CLASS UP FRONT
It’s been slim pickings for Tom Hawkins this season.
Five goals in four games isn’t the normal productivity from the Cats spearhead who has been a victim of his side’s questionable ball movement in recent weeks.
With a bit more space on offer against the Suns, Hawkins flicked the switch kicking three goals in the first half and having a hand in at least three others.
His partner in crime Esava Ratugolea (one goal) also enjoyed his best night for some time, throwing himself spectacularly into packs with a vigour which had been missing this season.
At the other end Gold Coast’s twin towers of King and Sam Day combined for five goals.
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GAZZA REACHES OUT TO ROWELL AFTER SHOULDER INJURY
Gary Ablett has reached out to Matt Rowell as the game’s youngest star faces a lengthy stint on the sidelines.
Rowell injured his shoulder midway through the first quarter against Geelong with scans over the next 24 hours set to determine his immediate future.
There are fears the shoulder could be dislocated which would require surgery and potentially end his season.
Ablett, the Gold Coast Suns original captain, went to Rowell after the Cats’ 37-point victory to offer his assistance given his history of shoulder issues.
“I’ve had a couple of shoulder reconstructions myself so I just asked him how his shoulder was, obviously he doesn’t know at the moment as he’s going to have to have a scan,” Ablett said.
“I said to him once he gets the result, if he wants to give me a call and talk through things I can let him know what worked for me and what didn’t, you just hate seeing injuries like that.”
Rowell’s right shoulder popped out after he was tackled by Geelong’s Brandan Parfitt at the 13-minute mark of the first quarter.
He was helped from the field by the Suns medical staff with coach Stuart Dew revealing the 19-year-old wanted to go back on.
“Absolutely he was coming back on, he wanted to but it was the right call by the medical department,” Dew said.
“It’s always hard to tell (how bad it is), he’s probably not a great guage as he says he doesn’t feel too bad.
“Any shoulder that pops out is going to be a bit sore but we’ll just see what the damage is there.”
Rowell travelled with his teammates to Sydney last night where the Suns will be based for the next two weeks. They play Melbourne next Saturday.
Geelong captain Joel Selwood, who Rowell has been compared to after just five games, also went out of his way to comfort the Sun’s young gun after the game.
“I’ve been watching him for the first four rounds and I’m super impressed like the rest of us,” Selwood said.
“He’s a bit of a man-child, we love what he is doing and bringing to the game right now. It’s nice to talk about things which are positive in the footy world and he is one of them.”
Since the COVID-19 resumption Rowell has been best-on-ground in the Suns three victories with one betting company even paying out bets on him for NAB Rising Star award.
GEELONG 4.3 5.6 10.7 13.11 (89)
GOLD COAST 1.1 5.2 8.4 8.4 (52)
GOALS
Geelong: Hawkins 3, Parfitt 2, Rohan, Menegola, Dahlhaus, Steven, Dangerfield, Ratugolea, Miers, Ablett.
Gold Coast: King 3, Day 2, Weller 2, Sexton.
BEST
Geelong: Hawkins, Menegola, Duncan, Selwood, Tuohy, Fort.
Gold Coast: Swallow, Greenwood, Holman, Bowes, King.
VOTES
3 – Tom Hawkins (Geelong)
2 – Sam Menegola (Geelong)
1 – David Swallow (Gold Coast)
Originally published as Matthew Rowell injury opens door for Max King to win Rising Star award