Gold Coast youngster Matt Rowell is fit, focused and confident his best footy is yet to come.
After exploding on the AFL stage in 2020 with nine Brownlow Medal votes in his first four games, Rowell has seemingly got his career back on track after back-to-back injury concerns.
His sensational debut campaign was brought to a shuddering halt with a shoulder reconstruction, before a knee injury early in 2021 sidelined Rowell for another three months.
Having returned to play the final 10 matches of last season, Rowell has proven his fitness as an ever-present this year for the Suns, who are 2-3 after five rounds heading into Sunday's Queensland derby against the Brisbane Lions at Metricon Stadium.
While the hype around his initial games perhaps warp his contribution since returning, Rowell remains a key plank of the Suns' midfield, averaging 21 disposals a game and almost seven tackles a match.
The 20-year-old was best on ground in Gold Coast's round one triumph over West Coast in Perth with 33 touches and eight clearances.
Still only 22 games into his career, Rowell believes he has plenty more to give now that his injury woes appear to be well behind him.
"It's all about what my teammates expect from me, my coaches, I don't really listen to any external stuff," Rowell told AAP.
"I'm always looking to improve and there's still a lot of things that I can improve on, teammates help me with that.
"I've got a lot of people and teammates that I can look up to at this club, people like Touk Miller in the midfield that I learn off each training session.
"I'm constantly learning and can get better, definitely."
One player who is delighted to have Rowell consistently on the park for the Suns is co-captain Miller, who says commentary the young gun has plateaued after his sensational start to life in the AFL is unfair and misguided.
"I've never known anyone to be judged on three games of football so harshly," Miller told AAP.
"The man's played under 50 games of football.
"You've just got to look at players, even someone like myself, I've not even 150 games yet and I've had so much longer to develop my career and develop my performance to get where I am now.
"We know that he's going to be a special player, which he already is, but even better for the club as the years go on.
"I just feel like the whole AFL world needs to probably sit back and watch the show a bit in terms of what he's going to do and who he is going to be come."
