Adelaide’s James Rowe is again on the radar of the Western Bulldogs.
That is according to SEN SA’s Andrew Hayes who believes the Bulldogs are “set to pounce” on the small forward.
The Dogs were interested in Rowe prior to the 2020 National Draft but essentially could not select the Woodville-West Torrens premiership player after the Crows made a bid on Jamarra Ugle-Hagan at pick 1.
That left Luke Beveridge’s club without the points required to take Rowe in the second round when the Crows snapped him up at pick 38.
However, the Dogs are again keen on the 22-year-old who is out of contract this year and yet to re-sign with the Crows.
“James Rowe is probably not going to get a contract at the Crows, that’s the word,” Hayes said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“The word right now is he’s probably not going to get renewed. This is a bloke who has played 16 games this year and averaging 13 disposals which is marked as above average for a small forward.
“He kicked two goals on the weekend (against North Melbourne) and was a late addition for Wayne Milera.
“The Bulldogs are red hot into him. They were into him a couple of years ago, they were going to draft him, hence why the Crows had to nominate Jamarra Ugle-Hagan to get rid of a lot of their (the Bulldogs’) points.
“They couldn’t accumulate enough points from draft picks to get to James Rowe so he could be on their list.
“Now it looks like the Bulldogs are set to pounce on James Rowe.”
Kane Cornes is confident Rowe will again be on an AFL list in 2023, but expects to see him in Crows colours despite the Dogs’ reported interest.
However, he wouldn’t be overly surprised if Rowe ended up elsewhere.
“He might get a better offer to go,” he said.
“I still think the Crows will offer him a contract, but whether it will be a bargain basement type setup or whether another club sees a different and a larger role for him to play.
“He might have a decision to make. It might be good for him to go to another club.
“He’ll be playing AFL football next year, I think it will still be at Adelaide but I wouldn’t be surprised if another club makes him feel a bit more loved than Adelaide has made him feel.”
Rowe has played 35 games for Adelaide over the last two seasons and has returned 27 goals, including 12 in 16 outings in 2022.