Dice rolls in Bowden's favour
08 May 2006 Herald Sun
David Hastie
RICHMOND coach Terry Wallace said Joel Bowden's gamble to switch play in the dying moments of Saturday's game was all part of the club's policy to take risks.
"You've got to take a risk to win a game," Wallace said.
"I've always been very much about take them on and try to step them and try to play with a bit of flair in your game regardless of the time frame.
"And I think Joel showed that when he took on his man in the back pocket."
Withe the scores level in the dramatic final term, Essendon's Mark McVeigh sprayed a shot at goal, putting it out on the full with almost 30 min gone on the clock.
Bowden, the recipient of the free kick, decided against the safer option of kicking along the boundary line, and headed inboard, baulking around Bomber speedster Andrew Lovett.
"When I got the ball the first person I saw was Andrew Kellaway and I thought he was probably one of the best blokes to kick the ball to because he is one of our most reliable marks in the team," Bowden said.
"So I tried to get the ball to him as best I could.
"And fortunately Andrew Lovett slipped over and I was able to get a couple of yards and kick it to Andrew who then was able to get the ball on to Jarred Oakley-Nicholls."
Oakley-Nicholls scored a behind from the play to give the Tigers the lead.
Bowden said he was fortunate that Lovett slipped, allowing him to reach Kellaway on the outer wing.
"I don't think I'll be out-running Andrew Lovett or any of the other indigenous guys, so I guess I'm lucky he slipped," Bowden said.
"I just wanted to get it in the general vicinity of Andrew so I basically just kicked it as long as I could at that stage. It was late in the game so that was only about 45m but it got to him, fortunately for us."
The win was a relief for Bowden whose opponent – Bomber forward Scot Lucas – had cut loose late in the game.
"He was playing well and had kicked three goals in about five minutes, which had made me quite aghast," Bowden said.
"I was thinking we'd turned a 14 or 15-point lead into a 10-point deficit and that was on the back of my man. So I was really disappointed about that."
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