Knights Has No Quarrel With Bowden's Tactics

The Sunday Age

Sunday July 20, 2008

Chloe Saltau

JOEL Bowden was perfectly entitled to kill time by rushing behinds in the closing seconds of Richmond's four-point victory over a gallant Essendon at the MCG, according to his former Punt Road teammate, Bombers coach Matthew Knights.

Bowden's contentious tactics dominated discussion after the Bombers, down to 19 men from early in the third quarter, missed several chances and then were frustrated as the Tiger veteran wound down the clock.

Bowden found allies in both Knights and Richmond assistant coach Brian Royal, who was sharing the coaching duties with an ailing Terry Wallace and angrily rejected suggestions he had not played in the spirit of the game.

In fact, Royal thought it was "fantastic" that Bowden used his immense experience to sum up the situation when he came back on the ground with three minutes remaining and Essendon within two kicks of victory.

After a Brent Stanton miss made the difference six points, Bowden twice conceded rushed behinds rather than bring the ball back into play.

"If you're going to ice the clock . . . if you're going to lose by one point or five points, what's the difference?" Royal said. "I just spoke to Joel then, he was prepared to do it a couple of more times. I think we iced it for 45 seconds that way," Royal said.

"You can make it a rift if you want to make it a rift. We're about winning four points, and if it's doing what Joel did . . . that's smart play. You couldn't tell me that if Essendon were in the same position they wouldn't have done the same thing."

"Joel did what he had to do to win the game," Knights said. "We were pressing. We had three or four shots in the last four or five minutes." While Richmond's seventh win of the season keeps it in touch with the top eight, the Bombers are facing an injury crisis with potentially only 26 fit players to choose from for next Saturday's match against Collingwood.

Dustin Fletcher withdrew with an ankle injury, joining key players Mark McVeigh (knee) and Andrew Lovett (suspension) on the sidelines. In-form tagger Andrew Welsh was concussed in the first quarter, while Angus Monfries and Jay Neagle both injured ankles and, along with Fletcher, will have scans tomorrow.

© 2008 The Sunday Age

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