At home with the Bowdens
By Lyall Johnson
The Age
April 28, 2006
AFL football is rich with tales, successful and not so, of "reuniting" brothers at clubs. On the success side there have been Brad Scott joining Chris at Brisbane from Hawthorn, or Anthony Daniher joining his clan at Essendon from the Swans.
But Shane Harvey being traded to the Kangaroos to play alongside Brent was by any measure a dismal failure, and the jury is still out on whether Jade Rawlings joining Brady at Arden Street, or Josh Carr moving to Fremantle with Matthew, will bear fruit.
While all clubs would say their selections are based purely on such things as football ability/potential, or the need for a player to fill a certain role or deficiency in the line-up, there is always a public perception that sentiment is involved, or at least a hope that the footballing genes of one brother might be present in the other.
As history shows, sentiment is never an issue when the club is forced to axe one of the players because they fail to perform.
Richmond coach Terry Wallace has always been at pains to emphasise that football's latest family reunion — that of former Western Bulldogs forward Patrick Bowden and his club champion brother Joel at Richmond — had no such sentiment attached to it at all.
As coach of the Bulldogs, it was Wallace who drafted Bowden in 1999 because he liked what he saw of a player he now says has got the "motor of a midfielder and the size of a key-position player", and who can play "high as a midfielder or on a wing or a ruck-rover, and then hurt them a little bit with his overhead ability".
"It was the one thing I said to Paddy, that 'we haven't got you here (at Richmond) for the nice family story or that your brother is a solid citizen for our footy club. We've got you here because I saw you play at 17 years of age and I rate you and I want you to stand on your own legs and make your own name, not just a family name'," Wallace said.
"While it is a nice story, we need him to be on his own two feet. You just can't afford to get into all that sentiment. To be honest, if anything I have always been against having brothers playing together because if one is not getting as good a run, it could actually impact on the other's thoughts about the club."
And after only four games with his new club, Bowden has gone a long way towards establishing himself as a solid member of the Tigers' best 18 on ability and not name.
So far playing everywhere from centre half-forward, deep into the forward line and on the wing, Bowden was this week even singled out for special praise from Wallace, along with Chris Newman, for his poise and maturity in the face of a hostile crowd in winding down the clock at the Gabba last Saturday by taking the ball back over the goal line for an unforced behind.
The tactic wasted valuable minutes and ensured Richmond's first 2006 victory.
So far this season, Bowden has clearly been among Richmond's best, gathering 69 possessions for seven goals.
Notwithstanding football's lack of sentiment, anyone who knows the Bowdens, with their proud footballing heritage, important link with Richmond (Patrick being the fourth Bowden in Tiger colours) and strong sense of family and community, knows they are something of a different breed, and that for Patrick to finally play beside his brother at Richmond — the same club father Michael won a premiership with in 1969 — resonates with a sentiment only those intimately involved with the brothers could truly understand.
According to Michael Bowden, a handy ruck-rover for the Tigers, Patrick's shift to Richmond is a true development step, almost a coming of age, for the youngest Bowden.
Joel, being 3½ years older than Patrick, who was a late physical developer, was from a young age an extremely imposing individual and always the dominant one of the pair, who, despite their age difference, were inseparable as boys.
They competed in everything, whether "flattening the grass" playing football or cricket in the park that adjoined their Albrecht Street house in Darwin, or wrestling indoors. Michael recalls having to constantly repair with plaster and spatula the holes made by one of them (usually Joel) throwing the other through the wall.
"Joel has always been the dominant brother and was always dominating Patrick physically. He left Alice Springs before Patrick was fully grown, but as Pat has got to adulthood and his physical stature has matured, he has been able to measure up to Joel. Really, what he wanted to do was be beside Joel, not competing with Joel.
"And now he has found a situation where he is Joel's peer, he's Joel's mate and together as brothers, they have an opportunity to no longer have to be fronting each other as they did during their growing up and when they were playing at opposing clubs. I think it is very significant for Patrick.
"Clearly he has found a new sense of security, a new sense of place, a new sense of belonging. And I think that's the best one, belonging."
But Bowden snr thinks it goes beyond Joel, to an acceptance with Patrick that he finally belongs among the "broad, wide, friendly, assertive, ambitious embrace of five brothers" and father. All have played either elite football or cricket around Australia.
"He was clearly the runt in the pack, if you like … and he clearly wanted to show he wasn't going to be left out. Quietly, unobtrusively and in a very friendly sort of way he is quite a driven man, quite focused on being able to measure up as one of the Bowden boys."
THE YELLOW AND BLACK BOWDENSMICHAEL BOWDEN1967-71
59 games, 20 goals
SEAN BOWDEN1990-91
6 games, 0 goals
JOEL BOWDEN1996-
196 games, 148 goals
PATRICK BOWDEN2006-
4 games, 7 goals (also Western Bulldogs 2001-05; 50 games, 55 goals)
http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/articles/2006/04/27/1145861489569.html
