Bowden No.2 in the AFL for metres gained

[one-eyed]

Stats confidential puts mid-season myths to the sword
Mark Stevens | June 18, 2009

MYTH 1: Joel Bowden is a liability who should have been shipped off to Coburg long before Jade's blade came down. Metres gained is considered a bullet-proof judge of how a player is travelling.

When Bowden was dropped after Round 11, he was No. 2 in the league, gaining 5590m for Richmond. Only St Kilda's Leigh Montagna, the Brownlow Medal bolter, led him.

Bowden was in prime company in the top 10 - other players to have gained more than 5000m included Dane Swan, Lindsay Gilbee, Rhyce Shaw, Josh Drummond, Chris Judd and Nick Dal Santo.

When sent back to the VFL, Bowden had amassed 34 long kicks - No. 2 at Richmond.

Bowden has also had 30 running bounces at AFL level this season.

So much for the perception the veteran thrives on short chip kicks, often sideways and backwards, to rack up SuperCoach points without inflicting pain on his opponents.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25652537-19742,00.html

[Chuck17]

Oh, where is TM to tell us all I told you so.

 

[TigerTime]

you dont need tm to tell u i told u so
i will say it fior  him

joel is a scapegoat and in our best 5 players still

he will be back in the team and is a champion player and person

you dont just buy AA status and the guy can play fwd back and midfield. champion

btw, ppl forget he has owned j.brown everytime he has played on him!

[mat073]

Hard to say why Joel has been dumped

1) The obvious.....his age
2) perhaps 18 tackles in 11 games is considered not good enough for a senior player.

[WilliamPowell]

Hard to say why Joel has been dumped

1) The obvious.....his age
2) perhaps 18 tackles in 11 games is considered not good enough for a senior player.

Or perhaps it may have something to do with defensive pressure and playing your opponent close

What I mean is; if you are playing on a key forward I would think that you are expected to play close to your man. Standing 5-10 metres away from him when the ball is coming forward, thereby giving your opponent a "start" on the lead is not great. You need to play alot closer than that defensively

It is certainly the problem I've had with bowden J's last 4-5 games - not playing close enough

It isn't just about the number of kicks it is the other things too.

Well that's my opinion/take anyway

[Con65]

I like Joel...great servant...

But what I would like to know is how many sheppards, blocks and tackles does he do for the ball carrier after he dishes off to someone close by...or does he simply run along the boundary waiting for the receive back?

[Stripes]

Joel isn't a team player and his natural instinct is to play 'safe football' thus the stop, prop, turn, kick sideway/backwards/wait until everyone has manned up before pinpointing a target. Bowdens stats always look great because he is a reciever and rarely wins his own ball particularly in a contested situation. Joel hasn't the speed, evasion or instinct to take opponents on and as a long time defender, he has some of the worst shut down defensive skills we have in the squad.

In many ways he is a product of our past much the same as Petts and even Richo, when if you were good enough offensively you could get away with not being defensive or doing the 1%.

Thankfully we are moving on from that time and sadly for Joel, from some players.....

Stripes

[Mr Magic]

Here's some more myths whilst we are at it.

Joel is fast.

Joel chases hard.

Joel keeps his feet.

Joel tackles.

Joel shepherds for his team mates.

Joel's 2nd and 3rd efforts are always there.

Joel is the future.

[Fishfinger]

No.2 in net meters gained. That's impressive. At least a Richmond player is doing something well this season in comparison to the rest of the comp. 

[Ramps]

effort just before the half time siren today was an absolute disgrace. deserves to stay at Coburg for the rest of the season based on that effort alone.

[Fishfinger]

...and that's relative to net metres gained because....?  ???

I any case, Bowden had been almost knocked out just before that fumble from diving for the ball in front the Port ruckman running in the opposite direction and was struggling to stand up.

As was pointed out to you when you posted the same thing in the Coburg game thread earlier.

[mightytiges]

Joel was one of the few Coburg players today who had metres gained. Most were handballing backwards and sideways  .

[one-eyed]

From Darren O'Shaughnessy at Champion Data (thanks to Y&B).

"...the metres gained is net metres, that is distance gained measured towards your own goal, minus distance lost away from goal (or towards opposition goal, if close to that). Hope that clarifies it."

http://www.yellowandblack.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=257466&postcount=58

[Ramps]

...and that's relative to net metres gained because....?  ???

I any case, Bowden had been almost knocked out just before that fumble from diving for the ball in front the Port ruckman running in the opposite direction and was struggling to stand up.

As was pointed out to you when you posted the same thing in the Coburg game thread earlier.

if he was concussed or injured he should have been of the ground.

[Fishfinger]

So have a go at the people who decided he should be helped staggering to CHB for the last few minutes of the half ahead of being helped off instead of bagging Joel.