Gold Coast superstar Matt Rowell has taken his famously unusual match-day routine to another level by getting on all fours and sniffing every football in the sheds before a game.
Extraordinary footage showed the reigning Brownlow medallist crawling along the floor as he inspected 13 yellow Sherrins lined up against a wall.
Rowell stopped to smell each ball individually before apparently settling on the one he preferred ahead of Saturday’s QClash against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.
The vision was aired on Kayo Sports program Bounce, where AFL great Jason Dunstall could barely believe what he was watching.
‘He decides, “I’m going to sniff all the match footballs. I’m going to sniff them all! To find out which one’s my favourite,”‘ Dunstall said.
Basketball legend Andrew Gaze compared the Suns midfielder’s careful search to the work of a trained detection dog.
Matt Rowell got on all fours like a dog to sniff every football lined up inside the Gold Coast sheds
The reigning Brownlow medallist carefully smelled 13 yellow Sherrins before apparently selecting his preferred ball for the match
‘It’s like a Labrador that just knows how to find the right scent,’ Gaze joked.
Former Hawthorn star Ben Dixon suggested Rowell might already have discovered his next occupation.
‘I know what his career after footy could be, he could be at the airport,’ Dixon said.
The strange scene was the latest addition to a collection of pre-game rituals that have made the 25-year-old one of the AFL’s most fascinating characters.
Rowell has previously been filmed walking barefoot across the playing surface, crouching on the turf, eating pieces of grass and writing in a journal before matches.
He was also spotted sitting barefoot on a Sherrin earlier this season, later explaining that the practice helped him connect with his surroundings before play began.
‘It’s just something I do before every game,’ Rowell said at the time.
‘It’s kind of like a grounding process. Get a feel for the ground, smell, touch, all the senses, really.
Rowell has become well known for his unusual rituals, including walking barefoot and eating grass before AFL matches
The Suns midfielder previously explained that touching and smelling the turf helped him become ‘one with the ground’
‘I do visualisation as well, just to become one with the ground. I always go barefoot.’
His unusual approach has done little to hurt his football, with Rowell producing a dominant 40-disposal and 16-tackle performance in Gold Coast’s dramatic two-point victory over GWS one week earlier.
However, the former No.1 draft pick could not inspire the Suns to another win against their Queensland rivals, with Brisbane cruising to a 42-point victory.
The defeat continued a bitterly disappointing campaign for Gold Coast after the club entered the year carrying hopes of building on its breakthrough 2025 finals appearance.
The Suns also recruited Melbourne premiership star Christian Petracca during the off-season but have been unable to turn their talented list into consistent results.
Petracca was held to just 12 disposals while playing forward against Brisbane, following returns of 14 and 16 possessions in his previous two matches.
Coach Damien Hardwick accepted responsibility for finding a better role for the struggling recruit.
‘He’s had a bit of a downturn in form,’ Hardwick said.
Gold Coast suffered a 42-point loss to Brisbane at the Gabba despite entering the season with strong finals ambitions
‘I’ve got to find how I can best use him, and that’s up to me to figure it out.
‘We’ve had some really good conversations, and he will do whatever I want for the benefit of the team. That’s a great thing about Christian.
‘I’ve got to get better at utilising him to his absolute strength. I haven’t found that right lever yet.
‘We had it at the start of the year. It’s probably drifted off a little bit, so we’ll work on that.’
Gold Coast sit 14th with eight victories and have fallen out of contention for the AFL’s inaugural wildcard round, which will feature teams finishing seventh through 10th.
The result completed a dramatic fall for a team installed among the early premiership favourites before its season unravelled.
Rowell was also forced to deny reports of a fractured relationship with Hardwick in July as scrutiny intensified around the struggling club.
‘There’s no truth in that. Me and ‘Dimma’ have a good relationship, we’re very honest with each other,’ he said.
‘There’s been a lot of noise around that and there’s definitely not any disharmony.
‘The position we’re in, there’s going to be some hard conversations because we’re not where we want to be.’
