Bowden sets new goals
February 6, 2005
The Age
Richmond's best-and-fairest, Joel Bowden, is hungry for success, reports Melissa Ryan.
In a year in which Richmond was battered almost to the point of breaking, Joel Bowden was not merely the flotsam that survived the storm the best to be awarded the Jack Dyer Medal as the club champion.
He and the club know that the often sublime, often maligned left-footer had earned the accolade with the steady, outstanding work he contributed at centre half-back, thrown against bigger forwards through sheer necessity, as the Tigers floundered from bad to the wooden spoon.
What that recognition meant to Bowden, who is one of four contenders for the Richmond captaincy, is apparent.
With his family involved in the club for 35 years - he is the son of premiership player Michael Bowden - being heralded its best-and-fairest clearly touched the 26-year-old, and he hoped others would look upon it with the same admiration given to those who had won it in years of greater success.
"I hope people give it merit because sometimes people say when you finish last it doesn't really count. Not that it doesn't really count, but some people said people don't remember the years that you finish on the bottom," Bowden said.
"I'll remember it (the medal) for a long, long time and hopefully I can add to it in the next four or five years, but as long as I'm happy within myself and that I can continue to play with the passion and the feeling that I think I have for the Richmond footy club, then I'm happy, and hopefully then all the supporters, and the coaching staff more importantly, are."
Now in his 10th year as a Tiger, Bowden views the coming era with as much excitement as the rest of the Richmond playing list, caught up in a bubble of enthusiasm from the vigorous spring cleaning the club has endured.
His part in that is to keep producing the consistency of form and impact that so highlighted his season last year. His talent has never been questioned in his 170-game career, but rather, the seeming casualness of its appearance has frustrated many, from supporters to critics.
"Sometimes that comes with the showing of a little ability early. Early on in my first couple of years I might have done a couple of things in quarters . . . and all of a sudden you get labelled maybe a little bit as very talented but then when the consistency (is) not there, there's criticism," Bowden said.
"Richmond supporters by nature just want to succeed and we haven't had success since 1980 so there's a little bit of hunger from the supporters and I know there is from the players."
Whether Bowden will remain in the back line this year is yet to be seen. But coach Terry Wallace would like to use Bowden's qualities around the ground to greater effect.
"You don't throw everything out because the side had a bad season but on the other hand, when Joel played his best football, the club didn't win a game," Wallace said. "That might have been the best spot for Joel but whether it actually helped the team win games, well, the answer is it didn't. The answer is they did not win a game after he came back from Coburg.
"I'm not blaming Joel for that, he won the best-and-fairest, but we'll use him where we see fit. I think he's a quality player that we probably just can't afford to have purely and simply as a sweeping backman because our midfield will need his quality at times.
"But in saying that, we saw how well he played that sweeping role across half-back so we'd be crazy to not take up what's been exposed and use that to our advantage."
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/02/05/1107476850714.html?from=storyrhs
