The infamous underarm incident is seared into the Australian and, even more so, Kiwi sporting psyches, but Wallace said comparisons between the routine event of a rushed behind and the unique situation that occurred at the MCG almost 30 years ago were baseless.
"I was probably disappointed with putting the similarities to the Trevor Chappell scenario," he said on Tuesday.
"It wasn't only one person who did it, it was done quite a few times over the weekend.
"One was a player being told by his captain to do something in a one-off situation that had never ever happened in the history of the game before, in comparison to something that happens twice a game.
"It just happened this time at the end of the game – we've seen it so many times before, we've been involved in it before.
"To have the comparisons, I thought were a bit out of line."
Bowden was off the ground late in the term, and Wallace said that although the 30-year-old went onto the ground to replace a forward, he was sent into the backline as a loose man because he was aware how close the full time siren was to sounding .
"As part of our review process, we've had a situation of 'don't take a risk if there's a risk not needed to be taken' – you shouldn't be taking that risk.
"There was a lot of pressure on Joel in that situation. They were playing a really good, tight one-on-one structure at the stage when Joel got possession of the ball. We've got blokes who were out on their feet – obviously they did as well – but we've got blokes who were out on their feet who weren't offering up a lot in regards to movement because they were just shot.
"Do you pull the trigger and make a horrible mistake, or do you hold onto the ball and have the patience to be able to setup again?"
