Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick says Matt Rowell needs more protection
Star midfielders have always copped plenty of attention from the opposition, but Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick wants his gun to get more protection.
Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick wants more protection for star Suns onballer Matt Rowell, concerned that being the “target” of opposition sides is impacting his output after a quiet game in his side’s 17-point QClash loss to the Brisbane Lions on Sunday night.
A renowned clearance specialist, Rowell was restricted to just one by the Lions, while the 23-year-old midfielder also didn’t stand out in the Suns’ 38-point home win over the Sydney Swans a week earlier.
“He’s too honest … he needs to be looked after more, I’m talking throughout the course of the year,” Hardwick said.
“He doesn’t get enough protection for a ball player.
“He needs to be looked after more (by umpires). Don’t get me wrong, Brisbane did an outstanding job with him.
“Players … they target him. They hold and they scrap and all that sort of stuff, so you need some help.
“We’ve got to continue to work with him when the games do look a little bit different.
“He’s a proud kid. He’ll get to work, and he understands that. He’s had a very good year, but he’s had a couple of quieter weeks.”
The Suns also need to “get to work” after a disappointing overall display against the Lions, who had 22 more contested possessions than Gold Coast.
“We we’re hoping we’d be better. What I will say 0s all credit to Brisbane – they’re humming at the moment,” Hardwick said after his side’s second loss of the season.
“We saw their demolition of (St Kilda) last week, and it was a similar sort of game against us.
“We just couldn’t control the midfield battle at all. Their inside outside balance was very good. They knew when to cough up the ball, as compared to us, we probably coughed it up a little bit too much.
“Their scrimmage balance was a lot better than ours, so we’ve got some things that we can get to work on.
“It’s a pretty easy analysis when you get beaten by that amount of contested ball and what the answers are.
“You can’t play against the reigning premiers and lose that contested number by that and then expect to get a result.
“Our boys are a proud bunch. They’ll get to work, we’ll have a look at it, and we’ll get a greater understanding about why we lost.”
Hardwick was hopeful in-form forward Ben Long, who missed the QClash with a hamstring issue, would return next Saturday night against the Western Bulldogs in Darwin.
“We could have used him (against Brisbane), but we’d rather just be conservative and see what that looks like going forward,” he said.
Originally published as Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick says Matt Rowell needs more protection
Big Bash hero’s huge payday
Blasting a record-equalling hundred in the Big Bash final put Mitch Owen on the world’s radar, and he’s now collecting cash after signing another deal.
‘Dumb’: Mistakes, not refs cost Storm
Plenty have questioned late decisions that helped the Canberra Raiders take down Melbourne Storm and a key player has had his say.