Published: 03:18 BST, 17 August 2026 | Updated: 03:20 BST, 17 August 2026
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.