Matt Rowell is proof that raising draft age is just daft
Suns’s boom rookie Matt Rowell is not only demolishing oppositions but arguments for raising the age of the draft.
Matt Rowell is demolishing the argument to raise the draft age as surely as he’s razing packs to light up a troubled season.
Even the most zealous advocates of shutting 18-year-olds out of the draft must be wavering after the boy wonder’s latest showing for the Suns.
Rowell had 20 disposals, seven clearances, five tackles and kicked two goals in the Suns 10.4 (64) to 8.3 (51) win over the Dockers on Saturday night.
After a body of AFL work that comprises four games, it seems precipitous to say that both goals were typical Rowell. But both goals were typical Rowell.
The first, a round-the-corner left-footer, was as neat as his tucked jumper.
“He’s a right-footer for those that don’t know,” Nick Dal Santo said on Fox Footy.
“We saw last week, he bombed one from 55 on his non-preferred. We’ve seen snaps on the non-preferred last week, and he just backed it up.”
Rowell’s second goal, from a forward pocket throw-in, was a one-two combination of natural football nous and explosive speed.
He’s an almost unbackable favourite for the Rising Star but forget about that, at this rate he’ll win the Brownlow.
He’s given us something to celebrate in worrying times and in doing so has lifted the game as high as his also high shorts.
Exhausted of ideas on Saturday night, the Dockers gave up going for the man and instead went for Rowell’s guernsey.
Fremantle’s Matt Taberner saw his chance as a minor melee started after the half-time siren.
In a stealthy surprise attack, Taberner sneaked up to untuck Rowell’s jumper. It was all the Dockers had.
“Good to see Matt Rowell bringing jumper tucking back into vogue,” Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley tweeted last week. “And non-preferred 50m goals.”
Rowell injects speed into the game. Yes, he’s blessed with explosive pace, but his strong left leg quickens the play.
“The thing that slows down AFL footy now is when they switch play the players don’t trust their opposite side to get the ball on,” ex-Cat and Kangaroo Liam Pickering said on Saturday.
“That goes back to this obsession told to junior players to straighten up and use their natural foot.”
Hopefully Rowell’s example is enough for ‘pathways’ coaches to rethink their policies on two-sided players. Although you’d think the Sam Mitchell example was sufficient to do that.
Rowell is not alone in undermining the argument against lifting the draft age.
His best mate Noah Anderson has played every game for the Suns this season after being taken at No 2 in last year’s draft.
And Giant Tom Green showed that you don’t need to be a No 1 or 2 pick to make it in your first year.
GWS’s pick 10 played a starring role in the Giants holding off Collingwood’s challenge in their two-point win on Friday night.
No Giant had more than Green’s 12 contested possessions, and in that high-pressure final term Green had six disposals and three clearances. His seven clearances were as many as any player on the ground.
So Rowell, Anderson and Green present a compelling case to leave the draft alone.
Proponents of lifting the age limit say players need more life experience before plunging into the AFL bubble.
But imagine this season without Rowell’s scintillating bursts and 50m left-foot goals on the run?
In April AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said 18-year-olds would be selected, as usual, this year, but there was a “possibility” the draft would be in a “different form”.
He seemed to be saying the best 18-year-olds would still be picked in a condensed draft.
However somewhat cryptically he also broached the possibility of a “more mature” draft.
As Rowell dismantled Fremantle, there was talk of commissioning statues and convening an emergency sitting of the Hall of Fame committee to induct the game’s newest star.
The AFL should instead call a special meeting to scrap any suggestion of making 18-year-olds wait to join the big league.
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