Altho i know your joking its also not exactly true, compound lifts help in every single aspect of sports and strength. Your body is a chain and is only as strong as its weakest link. This is why machine training can be so dangerous in the long term, as there will be many weak links. There is almost no exercise (i cant name one) where the isolation will lead to better real world function than compound.
You must remember that bench squat and dead are specific compounds working specific chains of muscles. Im not saying any are especially good for a rower but low rows and pull downs are not isolation exercises and also require and recruit many muscles involved in other lifts to a degree that would make them weak if untrained. Essentially if i put a quality deadlifter with a rounded program in a competition with anyone who specifically trained say the low row, assuming equal genetics diet and time trained id put my house on the deadlifter.
So many technical factors above individual muscle strength affect an individuals ability to perform a physical task, most notably the CNS (central nervous system) ability to recruit what fibres and in what order. This far exceeds the value of muscle mass or the strength on any individual muscle or even muscle group. There is no better way to condition the CNS than by doing big compound movements. Thus whatever the goal, compounds will always be king.
