A from Ingham, Queensland, Dowling started his career with the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls. He scored a freakish try during the 1984 State of Origin series. In Game 2, played on a wet and muddy Sydney Cricket Ground, Maroons captain Wally Lewis put up a chip-kick only metres out from the try line. The ball hit the crossbar on the full and bounced back down. Somehow Dowling managed to catch the slippery ball on the full only centimetres from the ground to score under the posts, helping the Maroons to a series winning 14-2 win. His club, Wynnum-Manly won the Brisbane Rugby League premiership final that year. He also played for the Brisbane Rugby League team that defeated the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in the 1984 National Panasonic Cup Final.
