Bowden gets home in a thriller
11:00:00 PM Fri 16 September, 2005
Paul Gough
Sportal for afl.com.au
Richmond deputy vice-captain Joel Bowden has become the first Tiger to win successive Jack Dyer Medals for nearly 20 years after winning a thrilling 2005 best and fairest count on Friday night.
Bowden became the first Richmond player since Dale Weightman in 1986 and 1987 to win successive club champion awards as Matthew Richardson was yet again just pipped in his bid to win his first club best and fairest.
In a thrilling count Bowden polled 221 votes to beat Richardson by just one vote with pre-count favourite Shane Tuck finishing third on 197 votes while Nathan Brown finished in the top 10 despite breaking suffering his season-ending broken leg injury as early as round 10.
The victory caps off a huge year for Bowden, who this year was named in the All-Australian side for the first time following his creative play across hakf-back.
But for Richardson - who this season won the Tigers' club goalkicking award for the 10th time in the past 12 years - it was yet another runner-up finish in the Jack Dyer Medal.
It was the fourth time the veteran spearhead has finished runner-up without winning the Tigers' top individual award after also having finished second in 1996, 1999 and 2002.
This was despite Richardson producing arguably the most consistent season of his illustrious career as he played all 22 games and kicked 65 goals as well as being ranked number one in the competition for contested marks after taking a total of 169 marks for the season at an average of nearly eight per game.
However it just wasn't quite enough as Bowden, who also played all 22 games, became the 23rd player in Richmond's history to win more than one club best and fairest.
The talented left-footer gathered 508 possessions throughout the season, at an average of 23.1 per game in his sweeping role across half-back and also drove the ball out of the Tigers' defensive 50 an astonishing 137 times for the season - which led to Bowden being named on the half-back flank in this year's All-Australian side.
Tuck, arguably the AFL's most improved player this season, finished third after only being the last player to win his place on the Tigers' senior list at the start of the season.
But Tuck was the Tigers' leading possession winner for the season with 526 touches at an average of just under 24 per game as well as averaging five clearances per game and driving the ball inside 50 an average of 4.5 times per game to establish himself as an elite AFL midfielder.
The votes were cast by all five Richmond match committee members with the most votes any player could receive in one game being 25 votes.
Other award winners announced on Jack Dyer Medal night were:
Fans’ Choice: Shane Tuck
Best Clubman: Chris Newman
Rising Star: Brett Deledio
Leading Goalkicker: Matthew Richardson
Most Improved Player: Kayne Pettifer
Best Performed Player at Coburg: Adam Pattison
Most Valuable Person: Brian Royal
Following is a list of the top 10 vote-getters in the 2005 Jack Dyer Medal:
2005 Jack Dyer Medal
1st: Joel Bowden 221
2nd: Matthew Richardson 220
3rd: Shane Tuck 197
4th: Darren Gaspar 184
5th: Mark Coughlan 172
6th: Chris Newman 171
7th: Kane Johnson 147
8th: Wayne Campbell 141
9th: Troy Simmonds 140
10th: Nathan Brown 129
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