Football’s “feel good” story for 2013 is all but complete, with Sam Rowe to make his senior debut for Carlton against Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday.

For Rowe, who prepares for this club’s greatest rival on the game’s greatest stage, it’s the stuff dreams are made of. Not so long ago, the boy from Walla Walla won a very personal war with testicular cancer. Now, for the first time ever, he runs out onto ‘the paddock that grew’ with 90,000 people watching on.

And he does so with a genuine humility.

“I’m a better person for everything I’ve been through so I’m not ever going to complain about anything that’s happened to me,” Rowe said after a training session today at Visy Park.

“I feel very lucky that I get to play on Sunday and to be the person that I am.”

Asked how he learnt of his impending selection, Rowe revealed that it came in conversation with Coach Mick Malthouse on Tuesday.

“A couple of days ago Mick said I was probably going to come in, so I’ve had a pretty good idea,” Rowe said. “I was excited to hear. I’d been working towards this all pre-season and I was hoping for it.
“There’s a little bit of relief there also. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been here, there and everywhere to get to this point, so there’s relief and a little bit of satisfaction.”
Seems so long ago now that Rowe, the solidly-built Norwood key forward originally rookied to Sydney through 2006 and ’07, was taken with the Blues’ second round selection (44 overall) in the 2011 AFL National Draft.
Finally, his time has come, and as he said, “I hope this is only a stepping stone for things to come”.

“I don’t want to just be the guy who had cancer and played a game,” he said. “I’d rather be known as a good footy player who played a lot of footy to come.

But did he appreciate that his story genuinely served to inspire? “I certainly don’t think about that too much,” came the reply.

“There are people out there who have gone through similar things (but) if I can help people in any way I feel pretty good about that too.”