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“It makes a lot of sense”: Cornes and Edmund react to Geelong and Rowell’s secret meeting
Andrew Slevison, SEN • January 28th, 2025 10:38 am
It has been reported that Geelong secretly met with Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell late last year.
Channel 7’s Mitch Cleary revealed that Cats coach Chris Scott and footy boss Andrew Mackie held a meeting with 23-year-old Rowell and his manager Tom Petroro in a private Melbourne bayside apartment.
The report suggests that the Cats have pitched to former No.1 draft pick Rowell, who is contracted with the Suns until the end of 2025, to become the next Joel Selwood.
SEN Breakfast’s Kane Cornes and Sam Edmund reacted to the news, wondering if Geelong’s pursuit of Rowell is due to the fact that 2022’s No.8 draft pick Jhye Clark has not developed as they would have liked.
Cornes tipped his hat to Geelong’s recruiting strategy and says it is a move that makes sense for the Cats.
“I personally though Jhye Clark was going to become the next Joel Selwood. It says to me that they’ve probably whiffed on that top 10 pick,” Cornes said.
“It’s probably 12 months early to judge on that but from what I’ve seen from Jhye Clark probably hasn’t impressed me like I thought he would. He’s tough but I’m not sure he gets enough of the ball and I’m not sure he uses it well enough.
“So maybe they’ve moved on from that talk because that was all the talk before they drafted him, that he’s going to be our next Joel Selwood.
“It’s very much in the strategic model of Geelong. The thing that I’ve liked about what they’ve done is the players they’ve brought in recently are all high draft picks and they’re all of an age that says they’ve got 10 years to play.
“When you look at Tanner Bruhn, Ollie Henry, Bailey Smith, they’ve all got a lot of footy head of them. So to be able to bring in high-quality, top draft picks who have had the hard work done for them at another club. Geelong get them and they’re ready to go - it’s a great model.
“If they do get this done - and it’s a big if - it makes a lot of sense. How do they get it done? What’s he worth? It starts at one top 10 pick with some change.”
Edmund added: “He’s 85 games into his career, he’s 23 years of age and this is the moment (to pursue him).
“But this is really Gold Coast’s time. What we don’t appreciate up there is some of those guys have formed a really close bond. He came with Noah Anderson, his best mate from his school years, but with Ben King and all the other players in and around that setup. They’re close off the field, most of them have come from outside the state.
“If they are about to take flight and the Suns have a great year then I’d be surprised if he would (leave). You stick it out for this long and your team’s about to come good, it would be hard to wrench him out.”
The 2024 season was Rowell’s best at AFL level, averaging 23.4 disposals, 8 tackles and 7.1 clearances to finish fourth in Gold Coast’s best and fairest while polling a career-best 25 Brownlow votes.
Listen to the full chat about Geelong’s Rowell interest below:
