Bowden so well read
17 June 2006
Herald Sun
Mike Sheahan
TERRY Wallace has likened Joel Bowden to the AFL's premier key defender Chad Cornes, with a hint of Bruce Doull.
``He reminds me very much of Chad Cornes when he (Cornes) is playing centre half-back,'' the Richmond coach said yesterday.
``I reckon the best aspect of his game is that he doesn't wait for his opponent to react.
``He reads the ball. As soon as it's left the opposition's boot down the ground, he then uses his judgment to go where the ball is, rather than having that defensive mindset of, `I need to go where my forward's going'.
``The great defenders in the past, players like (Carlton legend) Bruce Doull, they just used their judgment at that point to go after the footy. I reckon that's probably his best attribute.''
Wallace encourages all his defenders to back their judgment, take risks, with Bowden the general among the back six.
He generally is assigned the best of the opposition forwards, including Barry Hall, Jonathan Brown and Matthew Pavlich, yet ranks eighth in the competition for disposals and third for kicks.
``I like guys playing their own natural game,'' Wallace said.
``Probably, you go back to Blighty. All of a sudden (when Malcolm Blight started coaching Adelaide), backmen started to win more possessions. Blokes like (Nigel) Smart, (Ben) Hart, (Peter) Caven.
``I want our backline to be high possession winners, while obviously still needing to be able to get their jobs done.''
While Bowden, who turns 28 next week, has won the best-and-fairest the past two years, he is seen to have scaled new heights this year.
Pre-Wallace, he was seen as a smart player who created attack from defence, but at a cost: the Tigers needed to put extra players back to cover his opponent.
Now, he neutralises the best of the opposition forwards while still filling the role of playmaker.
``He has matured as a player and leader,'' Wallace said.
``He's had the big jobs as well as being able to run and carry.
``We like to get the ball into his hands. The best players in the competition are as honest as the day is long. They have pride in their own efforts. If their bloke is getting it a fair bit, they'll run and chase them because of their pride in their performance.''
It happened last Saturday when Bowden lured Roo Nathan Thompson up the ground. Thompson instinctively flew in a marking contest in front of the Richmond goal, Bowden scouted _ crumbing like Aaron Davey, according to Wallace _ and popped through a goal from 15m.
``He's very, very comfortable. That once laconic look is now just real comfort. He has no panic in his body at all.
``He just sums things up, reads it, slips through the traffic and has time and space to be able to deliver where other blokes have that panic factor setting in.''
Many observers say Bowden is better for the arrival of younger brother Patrick from the Western Bulldogs.
``Paddy was good in the first half of the first half of the year and he has been outstanding in the second half of the first half,'' Wallace said. ``Since he's gone down back (a month ago).''
``I don't reckon they wax,'' he said, ``but I don't reckon they miss each other, either.''
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