Published: 03:18 BST, 17 August 2026 | Updated: 03:20 BST, 17 August 2026<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Extraordinary footage showed the reigning Brownlow medallist crawling along the floor as he inspected 13 yellow Sherrins lined up against a wall.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The vision was aired on Kayo Sports program Bounce, where AFL great Jason Dunstall could barely believe what he was watching.<\/p>\n
'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.<\/p>\n
Basketball legend Andrew Gaze compared the Suns midfielder's careful search to the work of a trained detection dog.<\/p>\n
Matt Rowell got on all fours like a dog to sniff every football lined up inside the Gold Coast sheds<\/p>\n
The reigning Brownlow medallist carefully smelled 13 yellow Sherrins before apparently selecting his preferred ball for the match<\/p>\n
'It's like a Labrador that just knows how to find the right scent,' Gaze joked.<\/p>\n
Former Hawthorn star Ben Dixon suggested Rowell might already have discovered his next occupation.<\/p>\n
'I know what his career after footy could be, he could be at the airport,' Dixon said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n