Bowden: That wasn't the real us
07 April 2006 Herald Sun
Mark Robinson goes head-to-head with Richmond's Joel Bowden.
MARK ROBINSON: How appropriate we're sitting in a Catholic church. Have you got the faith?Joel Bowden: I'm a well brought-up Catholic but probably haven't been to church that often in the last few years. Football's taken over.
Believe in God? Certainly in some regards. I believe in Geez Geez and believe in a lot of the teachings they have in the Catholic Church and I like the Catholic community.
That would mean you believe in miracles. Not sure.
Would it be a miracle for Richmond to come back and win this week? I don't think it would be a miracle, but I certainly think it's possible.
It's Wednesday. Is it gone, forgotten? It's gone because we've reviewed it, we've done all the stuff we do about any game. However, it's not forgotten because you train so hard for five months and to come up in the first game and perform as we did, actually I think it will almost be a driving force for the rest of the year. Simply, we can't perform like that again, or not perform. After halftime we didn't perform at all.
It was some of the most embarrassing work from elite footballers I've seen. Were you embarrassed watching it again? It was certainly some of the worst footage I've seen of our team. It was the largest loss I've been involved with and it was something I never want to revisit. After 10 years of playing, I don't want to lose by 115 points ever again. After the weekend our group has decided, regardless of the scoreboard, we have to be competitive.
You simply have to have a crack. Exactly. Our supporters are very understanding in that regard. They've been starved of success.
With all due respect, Tiger supporters have to be understanding, don't they? Yeah, and they are, due to the history. I've spoken to a lot of them and they are understanding as long as we are competitive and have a go. If we don't, they've got every right to be disgruntled and unhappy, as does the coaching staff, as do the players. But it can turn around in a week.
It can, but it's not going to happen with the click of the fingers. It won't. The main thing we spoke about as a leadership group on Tuesday is that we need to train a little bit harder, do more competitive work. It's Wednesday today and I've got a couple of bruises; I got tackled hard yesterday. It was a solid hitout and training translates to playing.
What was worst about Friday night other than the result: Walking off the ground? Looking at each other in the rooms? Waking up the next day? Talking to family and friends? The worst part was that we'd trained so hard, and for me, trained so long, over 10 years, and feeling almost unable to control any part of the game in the second half. We simply were unable to influence the result. It was a sense of powerlessness in a game, where, one on one or 18 on 18, we should be able to mix it.
Ever felt that before? I've never had nine goals kicked in 10 or 15 minutes.
What were you doing when that was going on? I was trying to rally the backline troops. I had the first goal kicked on me in the third quarter and I remember saying to Gaspar, 'Darren, we don't need three in a row, we don't need three in a row'. And of course they got the third after the fourth minute. And all of sudden we're seven down. I was in a little bit of shock because the ball kept on going over my head.
Were you yelling out, instructing your midfielders? Yeah, I was yelling, no, not yelling, I was more instructional to the backline.
I asked about the rooms post-match. Can you describe it? Honestly, I felt a bit empty. I felt, like, what just happened there? I didn't really know what happened. Obviously I knew we had been completely outplayed and beaten dismally, but I wasn't sure how or why because we've trained, and this is our second year under Terry, we've trained to a game plan we want to implement, we've talked about being competitive every week. You know, I thought, 'Surely this isn't it, surely this isn't where we're at, we're better than that'. And I believe we are.
Who spoke first? We went straight in and Terry spoke to us and then we had a quick, maybe four or five minutes, just the players.
Any anger or was it shock? There wasn't anger, there was just a little bit of searching for answers. You know, why don't we work hard enough? Why when they get two goals in a row, why don't we run and work hard enough? Why do we go into our shells when the scoreboard says we're down by five goals? We shouldn't. We should play every contest as it is and if you get beaten by your man, well, the next time, you make sure he doesn't.
What did you family and friends say? Well, Mum and Dad actually came down for the game because Patrick was playing his first game for the Tigers.
An enormous day for the Bowden family. It turned into a weekend that wasn't so pleasant. The only thing they said was, 'Well, at least we were sitting in the right spot, right behind Patty when he lined up for goal in the first quarter. That was our excitement for the day'. Mum said it was a great feeling.
A real mum's moment, her two boys playing together. She said in the first quarter she was really happy. At the end of the day she was holding on to that first-quarter memory.
And it wasn't just your parents disappointed about what they saw. Parents and supporters and friends. It's an interesting game, footy, and the emotions that go with it are so high and so low.
Mate, you know the supporters were absolutely disgusted. Their hope evaporated in two hours. And that was a little bit the same as I felt. Surely this isn't it? We've shown a lot of improvement, but Friday night was no improvement at all. We've gone backwards.
Can you give guarantees in football? A guarantee that no matter the score, we will have a crack? It has to be. If we're to put in a poor performance like we did Friday night again, there will be a lot of questions asked. In saying that, I don't think those questions will have to be asked because we will be competitive for four quarters. St Kilda are a good team and I'm not going to go out on limb and say we'll beat St Kilda. That can happen, I'm not going to assure anyone that it will happen, but what I can say is that we as a team have got some resolve to show that wasn't us. The real us is hopefully a free-flowing, high-scoring team and that comes with being hard and strong and competitive.
Is Richmond's respectability as a football club on the line against the Saints? Almost, almost, because at the start of the season you can set a trend.
You were humiliated last week, but probably the most hurtful accusation was that you guys were soft. Too harsh? Depends what context you put it in. Soft in the fact we didn't go hard at the ball? I can't remember too many instances; it's just that we didn't get the ball. Soft that we didn't run hard enough? Yeah, maybe soft mentally because we weren't prepared to run when it was going against us and that's where we need to get a little harder. It's not that we're soft, we've got very good midfielders who are very hard, we're right up there in the hardball gets, and we need to get back to them. And then we've got to get it to our advantage to our runners. We need guys in and under and also working hard after that, but also the guys who are running to run.
And forwards in front, backs tight, midfielders accountable, taggers play close . . . you need to improve on almost every facet of the game. Exactly. Footy shouldn't be that complicated.
It is when you lose. Look at these kids in front of us having kick to kick. There's one kid kicking it up and what's the main ingredient of this game?
Get the ball. Go for the ball; that's what we need to do. And once we've got the ball, then we need to use our skills.
Can you tell Richmond supporters the players and coaches want redemption so much that they're itching for the Saints game to start? I firmly think the supporters have been low-key this week. I haven't seen or heard too much anger or frustration vented. Yet, two in a row performances like the weekend, you would see it come out.
There's plenty on the line this week, isn't there? Certainly. Reputations, but also the club and where we're going.
It's not just a match, this will tell us a lot about the club and its future under Terry Wallace. Yes. It's a big game. And win, lose or draw, we have to play four quarters and in a manner that is competitive. That is the essence.
You might have to all read that great sign on your clubroom door. "Have you that fierce desire to win?" Exactly. Fortune Favours the Brave is one . . . which door are you talking about?
The Tigers' credo, that famous Richmond sign that starts "Today you have the honour of wearing the Richmond guernsey . . . " We've moved changerooms. I know that saying, but we've changed rooms.
Well, you'd better grab it and read it again. We'll see if Grocon have put it in the museum or whether they put it in the wheelie bin.
Surely, someone kept the sign. Anyway, we know what it says. That's what you need this week. We do. And we need to be brave enough to go out there and run as hard as we possibly can to get to the contest.
Back to Catholicism. You might have to kneel and say a little prayer to the big fella? No, I haven't prayed about footy.
Maybe it's time? I'll have to wait and see. We do need a bit of support.
And faith? We need faith in our ability. We need the 18 guys on the field to line up next to their bloke, and say to themselves, 'I can beat my man. And if he beats me once, all right, that's fine, but next time I'm going to beat him. If he beats me twice, the third time, well, there's no way in the world can we let that happen'. That's the attitude.
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