In a special richmondfc.com.au nostalgic series celebrating Richmond’s 50 years at home at the MCG, Tony Greenberg pilots the Tiger Time Machine back to the day a Yellow and Black David slew the Blue Goliath.
Laurie Fowler played only 49 games for Richmond in a four-year career from 1971-74, before crossing to Melbourne, where he subsequently won three Best and Fairests in a fine 140-game career.
But the nuggety back pocket will always be fondly remembered at Tigerland for the crucial role he played in the Club’s 1973 premiership triumph over arch-rival Carlton.
Fowler’s match statistics in that ’73 Grand Final were modest, to say the least – just five kicks, one handball and four marks.
What Fowler did doesn’t show up on any statistical sheet from that ‘one day in September ‘73’, yet there’s no doubting how significant his impact was to the eventual outcome of the big game.
Four minutes into the match is when it all happened . . .
In the style of a boxing world heavyweight title bout, the two teams were just feeling each other out, when, suddenly, Richmond landed a knockout blow, courtesy of ‘little’ Laurie Fowler.
Carlton superstar Alex Jesaulenko had kicked the ball into the Blues’ forward line, where their inspirational captain-coach John Nicholls was leading out in front of Tiger opponent Rex Hunt.
As Nicholls went to take the mark, he was met front-on by an airborne Fowler, who was heading in the same direction as the ball.
Nicholls was 189cm and about 105kg, while Fowler was 179cm and 75kg, so it was a classic David and Goliath battle.
And, just as in the famous biblical story, it was David who prevailed . . .
‘Big Nick’, as he was known, was knocked out cold by Fowler’s flying shirtfront, and he lay motionless on the hallowed MCG turf for about three minutes.
That bone-jarring hit by Fowler on Nicholls was the catalyst for Richmond to ruthlessly dispose of the Blues and take the ’73 flag.
It was redemption day for the Tigers following their shock loss to Carlton in the previous year’s Grand Final.
They’d gone into the 1972 premiership-decider as hot favorites, but had been bamboozled by the Blues in a goalkicking onslaught (28.9 to 22.18).
John Nicholls, as Carlton’s captain-coach, had masterminded the stunning upset, with several clever positional moves, and had been a huge on-field contributor himself, kicking six goals.
So, revenge was uppermost in the minds of the Richmond players as they took the field for the 1973 Grand Final against the Blues.
Clearly, the capacity to quell Nicholls’ influence was pivotal to the Tigers’ chances of turning the tables on their traditional foes.
That’s why Laurie Fowler’s felling of Nicholls was so telling.
Although Nicholls was eventually helped to his feet by the Carlton trainers, and he kicked the first goal of the Grand Final after receiving a 15-metre penalty, his influence for the rest of the match was severely diminished, both in a playing and coaching capacity.
Nicholls finished with just three kicks, one handball and no marks, as Richmond (to paraphrase the bold Tigers’ cheer squad banner at the time) ruthlessly ran riot to record a decisive 30-point win.
In Elliot Cartledge’s excellent book, ‘The Hafey Years’, he asked some players from both sides that day for their thoughts on the impact of Fowler’s flattening of Nicholls.
Richmond champion Francis Bourke said: “It set the tone. For Laurie Fowler, who was a tough, nuggety sort of player, to have that impact meant that this was for keeps. It really set the tone.”
Carlton star David McKay said: “To see someone who was a colossus knocked out like that really stung.
“He was such an enormous presence on the ground as a leader that we thought, ‘Shit, what’s going to happen now’? If he’s out of it we’re rudderless. It was just one of those things; Fowler just got Nick at a vulnerable point. I don’t consider that rough stuff, compared to the other stuff that happened that day. It was just a simple shirtfront and it could have happened 100 more times and 99 times it wouldn’t have the same impact.
“But it did, Nick went down and it certainly unsettled us. You could talk to any player from that day and they’d tell you we were stunned. I’m not saying that was the reason why Richmond won on the day, but we were starting to think twice about what the hell was happening out there.”
Robert Walls, who had kicked six goals from centre-half forward for the Blues in the 1972 Grand Final, echoed McKay’s sentiments . . .
“He was our captain-coach, he was out protector, he was everything,” Walls stated.
“He had the strongest presence out on the ground of any player I ever experienced. When he got hit by Laurie Fowler he sort of spun around in the air and was horizontal to the ground. Getting hit was one thing, but when he hit the deck it was another. He didn’t know where he was. He tried to speak to the group at quarter-time, but he was wobbly. We’d never seen him like that before. You could imagine that this was our leader and he was really struggling. It was only natural that we lost confidence because the big bloke was in real trouble. It knocked us around a bit.”
Speaking about the incident a few years later, Laurie Fowler provided a succinct description of the moment . . .
“I was keyed up at the time and all I remember is that I had my eyes on the ball. If Nick had run through me the whole thing would have been forgotten,” he said.
1973 Grand Final details
Richmond 3.5 11.8 15.11 16.20 (116)
Carlton 2.2 7.6 9.9 12.14 (86)
Goals – Richmond: Hart 3, Sheedy 3, Sproule 3, Balme 2, Bartlett, Carter, Green, Roberts, Walsh.
Leading possession-getters – Richmond: Bartlett 26, Sheedy 24, Sproule 3, Balme 2, Bartlett, Carter, Green, Roberts, Walsh.
Goals – Carlton: Crane 2, Dickson 2, Hall 2, McKay 2, Walls 2, Chandler, Nicholls.
Leading possession-getters – Carlton: Crane 27, Walls 20, Jesaulenko 19.
Crowd: 116,956.
