Should Hearts be concerned about the contract extension they gave to Kye Rowles?

“We defended well. I thought Kye Rowles was really good. I thought the way he defended the box early on – they tried to build momentum, put balls into the box from everywhere, they were very direct – I thought he did really well.”

Those were the words of Hearts interim boss Steven Naismith speaking to club media in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Hibs at Easter Road. Naismith talked for almost three minutes in the interview published on the Hearts official Twitter account, but particularly comment was quickly singled out by a number of supporters, enraged by the performance in defeat and incredulous the former Scotland international could come to such a conclusion.

“Worrying he thought Rowles played well, gets thrown about like an empty tracksuit and caught on the ball far too often today,” said one fan.

“Rowles played well? Deary me,” wrote another.

Hearts centre-back Kye Rowles arriving at Easter Road prior to the defeat against arch-rivals Hibs on Saturday. Picture: SNS

The dedicated thread to Rowles on leading fans forum Jambos Kickback sprung back up to the top of the site after a user posted: "Quite possibly the weakest CB I've ever seen. Can he out battle anyone?” It didn’t get much better from there.

In some aspects of the game, Naismith was right. Rowles did very well. He had a massive 15 interceptions against Hibs to go along with 16 clearances. That’s a hugely impressive number for one defender. Indeed, it’s tied for the third most he's managed in a single match in his entire career to date. Chris Cadden was constantly getting space down the right-hand side against a beleaguered Stephen Kingsley and whipping balls into the penalty area. Rowles always seemed on hand to divert them back up the field or out for a corner.

However, there were other parts of his game which weren’t so impressive. He lost five of his nine aerial duels and, for the most part, was physically overpowered by eventual match-winner Kevin Nisbet.

Combined with his recent form, this weakness in his game correlates with an increasing number of Hearts supporters turning against the Australian.

In fairness, this could be said of just about anybody in the Hearts squad over recent weeks, but none of those guys signed new five-and-a-half-year deals earlier this year. At the time it looked like a sure thing; an excellent piece of business which would see Hearts earn great financial reward when he is eventually sold. Now that lengthy deal is a bit of a growing concern, especially as he’ll surely be one of the top earners after excelling at the World Cup.

But a bit of patience is required. Rowles is still only 24. Yes, typically considered old enough to be a reliable stopper in defence, but it's still very much an age in which centre-backs are developing. And Rowles is a young 24. He doesn’t yet have 130 league games under his belt. The majority of those were spent playing at a lower level in the A-League and one completely different from the rigours of Scottish football.

As he said himself back in January: “I’d say the aerial duels have been a lot tougher over here than they are back home. The boys over here are built a bit differently, the boys up top are pretty thick and all good in the air."

It’s a different style of football and a different profile of competitor he’s facing. And when Hearts have been good, Rowles has been good. Though he has issues with the physical aspect of the game, his anticipation and positioning are tremendous. This season he leads all players in the Scottish Premiership with 8.11 interceptions per 90 minutes. His one shot-block per game, on average, has him fourth.

His heading ability is certainly an issue. A success rate of 53.45 per cent this term is, make no mistake about it, bad. It remains a ridiculous false-step by the club that they recruited James Hill in January – a player of a very similar profile to Toby Sibbick – when they were crying out for a dominant stopper following the season-ending injury to Craig Halkett. Rowles has missed having that type of player beside him to make up for his shortcomings, while Halkett was also the undoubted leader of the defence.

But heading ability is something a centre-back can improve on as career progress. Looking across the city, Rocky Bushiri arrived at Hibs with a laughable 47.6 per cent success rate on high balls. He’s up to 66.7 per cent this term. Ryan Porteous enjoyed a similar jump from when he first came into the Hibs team compared with when he left.

Promisingly, Rowles knows he has to get better in the air and has to bulk up.

“I’m a bit of a stick figure,” he said in January. "Halks and Kingsley are solid in the air and I try to learn off them as much as possible, whether it’s giving somebody a bump before they jump or giving yourself an extra yard.”

Adding muscle mass is very difficult during a campaign. There’s so much cardio work that it’s difficult to keep in on. It’s something he’ll work on during the summer. After which, he should hopefully have both a dominant centre-back partner beside him and a functioning team in front.

Furthermore, his place in the Australian national team will always mean there are club scouts and coaching from across the world monitoring him. Just because a team in England may not want to pay money, doesn’t mean a team in the Middle East or Asia won’t.

The contract extension may not look as great as it did when the ink was still wet, but it’s far too early to start panicking about it.

Rowles will bounce back next term. You mark my words.

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