Laurie Fowler is Richmond’s third Homecoming Hero for the 2023 season.
The Tigers are set to pay tribute to Fowler in the lead-up to Saturday’s Round 8 clash with West Coast at the MCG.
Fowler will walk to the Punt Road end of the ground, where he’ll receive the plaudits of the Tiger Army.
He’ll kick a ceremonial goal, then sign the football and present it to a Richmond fan in the crowd.
Laurie Fowler was recruited by Richmond from Melbourne suburban club Oakleigh Districts which, back then, was part of the Tigers’ metropolitan recruiting zone.
He worked his way through the ranks at Richmond, starting with the under 19s, where he was a member of back-to-back premiership sides in 1969-70.
The next year, Fowler made it three premierships in three seasons at Tigerland, playing in the reserve-grade’s grand final-winning team of 1971.
It was during the 1971 season that Fowler made his senior debut for Richmond, in the Round 8 match against Carlton at the MCG.
That was to be Fowler’s sole appearance at senior level with the Tigers for the year.
In 1972, Fowler showed some promising signs across 11 senior games., the last of those in Round 21 against Footscray.
The following year, he established himself as a permanent member of Richmond’s senior side, playing 22 games, including the glorious 1973 Grand Final victory over Carlton.
Initially that season, Fowler was used in attack by the Tigers, and he kicked seven goals in the first three games.
But it was as a back pocket, minding the opposition’s small forwards and resting rovers, that Fowler flourished.
With his determination, discipline, toughness, exemplary work ethic, strong marking, efficient ball use and good decision-making, Fowler was a valuable contributor to Richmond’s triumphant 1973 premiership triumph.
Fowler certainly made his presence felt in the ’73 Grand Final against the Blues.
His statistics for the premiership-decider were modest – five kicks, one handball and four marks. But there is no doubting how significant his impact was to the eventual outcome of the season’s biggest game, in one dramatic incident.
Just four minutes into the match is when it all happened . . .
In the style of a boxing world heavyweight title bout, the two powerhouse teams had been 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’ 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 had gone into the 1972 premiership-decider as hot favourites but had been bamboozled by the Blues in a goalkicking onslaught (28.9 to 22.18).
Nicholls had masterminded the stunning upset, with several clever positional moves, and he’d 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 rivals.
That’s why 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 recorded a decisive 30-point win.
Speaking about the incident a few years later, Laurie Fowler provided a concise account of the memorable Grand Final 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.
That made it four premierships in three different grades in five seasons at Richmond for Fowler.
He subsequently played 15 home-and-away games during the 1974 season but was not part of the Tigers’ successful finals campaign, which culminated in back-to-back premierships with a Grand Final victory over North Melbourne.
Fowler departed Punt Road at the end of that year and joined Melbourne, where he went on to have a fine career, winning three Best and Fairest awards.
His time at Tigerland had been relatively short, but significant and successful.
Richmond is proud to have welcomed back Motorola as partner of our 2023 Homecoming Heroes. Motorola was recently announced as the official smartphone partner of the Richmond Football Club.
Laurie Fowler profile
Born: December 29, 1951
Height: 179cm
Playing weight: 75kg
Recruited to Richmond from: Oakleigh Districts
Guernsey number at Richmond: No. 45 and No. 11
Debut at Richmond: Round 8, 1971 v Carlton, MCG
Games at Richmond: 49
Goals at Richmond: 7
Playing honours at Richmond: Premiership player (1973)
Below is a list of Richmond's Homecoming Heroes since its inception in 2014...
| 2014, Rd 2: Michael Green | 2014, Rd 4: Kevin Bartlett | 2014, Rd 6: Bryan Wood |
| 2014, Rd 13: Kevin Morris | 2014, Rd 14: Wayne Walsh | 2014, Rd 16: Barry Richardson |
| 2014, Rd 19: Rex Hunt | 2014, Rd 20: Francis Bourke | 2015, Rd 2: Bill Barrot |
| 2015, Rd 5: Andrew Kellaway | 2015, Rd 7: Mark Lee | 2015, Rd 9: Derek Peardon |
| 2015, R12: Dale Weightman | 2015, R15: Matthew Richardson | 2015, R17: Dick Clay |
| 2015, R20: Barry Rowlings | 2016, R6: Matthew Rogers | 2016, R7: Jake King |
| 2016, R8: Nick Daffy | 2016, R12: Nathan Foley | 2016, R14: Dan Jackson |
| 2016, R17: Scott Turner | 2016, R20: Jim Jess | 2016, R21: John Ronaldson |
| 2016, R22: Graeme Bond | 2017, R2: Roger Dean | 2017, R3: Richard Clay |
| 2017, R8: Mick Malthouse | 2017, R10: Michael Mitchell | 2017, R13: Shane Tuck |
| 2017, R14: Paul Broderick | 2017, R18: Stephen Mount | 2017, R20: Graham Burgin |
| 2017, R23: Trevor Poole | 2018, R3: Michael Roach | 2018, R4: Michael Gale |
| 2018, R7: Craig Lambert | 2018, R10: Stephen Rae | 2018, R16: Chris Naish |
| 2018, R19: Tony Jewell | 2018, R20: Gareth Andrews | 2018, R22: Mark Eustice |
| 2018, R23: Nathan Brown | 2019, R2: Geoff Raines | 2019, R9: Darren Gaspar |
| 2019, R10: Andrew Krakouer | 2019, R12: Jeff Hogg | 2019, R17: Greg Tivendale |
| 2019, R18: Ivan Maric | 2019, R21: Tony Free | 2019, R22: Merv Keane |
| 2019, R23: Michael Pickering |
2021, R7: Chris Hyde | 2021, R8: Kayne Pettifer |
| 2021, R17: Lionel Proctor | 2022, R2: Jacob Townsend | 2022, R4: Joel Bowden |
| 2022, R8: Brett Deledio | 2022, R10: Phil Egan | 2022, R13: Kelvin Moore |
| 2022, R14: Sam Lloyd | 2022, R16: Ben Holland | 2022, R20: Brett Evans |
| 2023, R1: Neil Balme |
2023, R4: Robert McGhie |
2023, R8: Laurie Fowler |
