Temperamentally, it\u2019s hard to imagine two more different footballers than Jeremy Cameron and Matt Rowell. Cameron kicked 11 goals on the weekend, and slotted each one with the same laconic air as when he\u2019s whacking golf balls into the lake on his farm. Rowell had 37 possessions, most of which were earned in a footballing form of hand-to-hand-combat.<\/p>\n
Rowell met considerably stiffer opposition than Cameron, whose bag came against a lamentable North Melbourne, a team that is driving its fans to despair. Rowell\u2019s 37 came against a crack midfield, with one of the sport\u2019s best two-way runners in his back pocket all afternoon.<\/p>\n
Rowell\u2019s motor often takes half a quarter or so to properly turn over. And Josh Dunkley, who has blanketed him in recent meetings, seemed to have his measure in the early minutes of the Queensland derby. He was doing all the right things \u2013 bumping him off balance, blocking him at stoppages and involving himself in possession chains.<\/p>\n
But in horseracing parlances, this was run on a Heavy 9 and Rowell is built for those conditions. He\u2019s low slung, incredibly strong through the glutes and legs, and excellent at holding his centre of gravity. Scrimmaging on his hands and knees \u2013 one of the more exhausting things you can do on a football field \u2013 he\u2019ll shovel out the handball at the fourth or fifth effort. For such a brute of a footballer, he also has fast feet and a recurring sight all afternoon was of him giving Dunkley the slip at stoppages \u2013 sometimes with twinkle toes, sometimes just sledgehammering his way out.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s impossible to write about Rowell and not mention Noah Anderson. The best friends are polar opposites as footballers. One pursues the ball in an almost demented manner. The other glides and slaloms his way through congestion. Anderson took a while to adapt to Damien Hardwick\u2019s ways. But he has been exceptional this year, and would be a worthy Brownlow medallist and All Australian captain. In a recent profile on the AFL<\/a> website, three people who coach and work with him compared him to Scott Pendlebury. Words like \u201ccalm\u201d and \u201cunfazed\u201d were peppered throughout the article. It\u2019s a shame he and Rowell aren\u2019t playing in front of 80,000 people every other week. But they drew their marbles, went where they were told and have made Gold Coast a serious football team.<\/p>\n Noah Anderson handpasses during the win over Brisbane at People First Stadium. Photograph: Russell Freeman\/AFL Photos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n There are several things that stand out about the Suns. The first is how much they resemble Hardwick\u2019s great Richmond side just as it was about to pop \u2013 the frantic, raus raus football, the determination to attack from half back in great sweeping waves. Like Richmond\u2019s Tigers, and unlike any Suns side in its first dozen years, they don\u2019t drop their bundle after a bad loss.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s finally a bit of mongrel about them, an attitude that GWS had right from the beginning but which the Suns failed to cultivate. A lot of them, including Rowell and ruckman Jarrod Witts, are prepared to do the dirty work, allowing thoroughbreds like Anderson the full expression of his game.<\/p>\n Like Melbourne, they wined and dined all the prominent media figures in February. All the big movers and shakers were there \u2013 the president, the CEO, the coach, Anderson, Rowell and a lot of the best players. They were selling their story. They were asking for a fair ride from the media. And underpinning everything was a steely resolve that they weren\u2019t going to roll over for anyone any more.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly<\/p>\n Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week’s biggest AFL stories<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Yeah yeah, most probably thought, thanks for the dinner but we\u2019ve heard it all before. After all, this is the time of year where the Suns traditionally fall in a heap. In the last seven games of a season, they\u2019ve never won more than three of them. They had a poor recent record against Brisbane, they were towelled up by Adelaide last week and they were without Daniel Rioli and Touk Miller.<\/p>\n But they took on a premiership midfield, a midfield with depth and variety and talent to burn, and they obliterated them. Their 12th win is the most they\u2019ve registered in a season. At the final break, in teeming rain, coach and players were squeezed in tight and grinning broadly. I\u2019ll take a stab and suggest Hardwick was saying something along the lines of \u201cHow good is this?\u201d and \u201cwe finally belong with the big boys\u201d.<\/p>\n A final word on Rowell and Anderson. There\u2019s a photograph of them with Nick Daicos in the same school team in 2019. Pity the poor VCE students, concerned mainly with their studies, their social lives and playing a bit of footy on a Saturday, who had to try to quell that trio. The poor buggers should get a spot in the motorcade on grand final day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Temperamentally, it\u2019s hard to imagine two more different footballers than Jeremy Cameron and Matt Rowell. 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