Tremendous 200

Joel Bowden is the son of former Richmond Premiership player; Mike. He was the 2nd of the 4 Bowden brothers to play senior football for his father's old club.

He first came to notice in 1996 against the West Coast Eagles when he kicked 5 goals before injuring his collarbone. He took a while to come back and then damaged it again early the next season. For a little while he was gunshy and there were doubts about his ability to make it, great shame because he was one of the most completely skilled footballers I had ever seen.

Joel stuck to it and turned into a reliable and dangerous footballer. He blossomed in the 2000 season and became the Tigers link man, he wasn't quite key position size, but could be used as a pinch hitter at either CHF or CHB and be damaging. He progressed further in 2001 and more than one opposition coach pointed to him as a large part of why the side did so well.

This gained him extra attention the following year and his form began to drop off. One thing that was very frustrating for supporters was his tendency to turn the ball over, especially from kick outs from full back. He was so sublimely skilled that there was a perception that he was lazy.

Joel's form continued to detoriorate until midway through 2004 he was dropped to Coburg, he spent one game there and it gave him the kick up the backside that he needed. He had a great second half to the season, claiming such scalps as Jonathan Brown and ended up winning the Jack Dyer medal for Richmond's best and fairest player. He backed that up with another sterling effort in 2005 and won his second Jack Dyer medal.

He's been given some tough assignments in 2006 and despite Rd 8 being his 200th game no one gave the Tigers a chance of beating Adelaide. The Tigers did win the game with an interesting game plan and Joel with 34 possessions, a staggering 20 marks and being the general in the backline, holding the ball up when he needed to, chipping it around other times and running it out when the opportunity presented itself was a large part of what could be a season defining win.

Take a bow Joel you have deserved every one of those 200 games and I'd love to see you go on and play another 100 and become only the 4th Tiger to crack the 300 mark.

Chris