Richmond veteran Joel Bowden at the age of 31 has announced his retirement from AFL, which is come into play after this Saturday night.
Bowden’s retirement does not come as a surprise to many after he was dropped to the Tigers VFL side. This occurred after Richmond’s new caretaker “coach” Jade Rawlings took over and employed a youth policy which saw Bowden being dropped. His last senior match was in Round 11, this year against the Western Bulldogs, where he gathered 32 disposals.
When announcing his retirement to the media Bowden said “I’m certainly a better person, richer for the experience”. He said that he has been an honour and privilege to play footy at Richmond and he has been “extremely fortunate”. He also stated that he wanted to keep playing in the AFL, but understood the clubs position, in opting for youth.
Bowden was drafted in 1995 under the father and son rule to the Richmond Football Club. His father Michael Bowden was a premiership player with the Tigers in 1969 and his two brothers Sean and Patrick Bowden have also played for the Tigers.
He debut in 1996 and developed a strong reputation as one of the “Tigers’ favourite sons”. He started off his career as a forward but developed into a strong back man.
Bowden was a dual best and fairest winner for the Tigers in 2004 and 2005. In 2004 he was also a member of Australia’s International Rules Squad. In 2005 and 2006, Bowden received All-Australian honours and was amongst the leading possession getters in the AFL at the end of 2006.
In 2007, he was announced as the new president of the AFL Players Association (AFLPA). After his retirement and until next February Bowden will have an added workload because of the departure of Brendon Gale as CEO to become Richmond’s new CEO. In February, Bowden will be stepping down as president of the Players Associated and is not sure if will have future roles within the AFL.
In his career Bowden has kicked 174 goals and has averaged 13.8 kicks, 5.8 marks and 8.2 handballs in his senior games.
His final match for the yellow and black will be on Saturday night at the MCG, against Collingwood. This match will be his 265th; a testimonial dinner will follow this match at the ground.
Tags: Brendon Gale, Jade Rawlings, Joel Bowden
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