Laurie Fowler (born 29 December 1951) is a formerAustralian rules footballer who played forRichmond andMelbourne in theVictorian Football League (VFL).

After finishing runner-up in the seniorbest and fairest count as a 16-year-old at Oakleigh Districts, Fowler was zoned to Richmond. Working his way up from the thirds side, Fowler made his senior VFL debut in1971 and soon became recognised as a tough and courageous defender. He will be best remembered as the player who crashed intoCarlton captain-coachJohn Nicholls at the start of the1973 VFL Grand Final. The collision severely impacted Nicholls and helped Richmond avenge their loss to Carlton in theprevious year's Grand Final.

Richmond won the premiership again in1974, but Fowler quit after he was omitted from the team. The Tigers considered Fowler's senior options to be limited and sold him to Melbourne, the club Fowler had supported as a child, for $15,000 (equivalent to over $100,000 in 2009). Fowler made an instant impact with the struggling Demons, winning theKeith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal for the best and fairest player at the club in hisfirst season. Although primarily a back-pocket player, Melbourne coachBob Skilton also used Fowler as a ruck-rover to help cover forGreg Wells' lack of defensive skills in the midfield. In1976, Melbourne narrowly missed out on the finals after Carlton drew withFootscray in the final round of the home-and-away season. Fowler was again among Melbourne's best players, finishing runner-up to Wells in the Keith Truscott Medal count.

Skilton was replaced as coach by former premiership playerDennis Jones at the end of the1977 VFL season, but Melbourne's fortunes did not improve and they finished last in1978. During that season, Fowler had to be talked out of retirement after being relegated to the Reserves, and then quit for a brief time in May after being substituted againstNorth Melbourne. Despite receiving offers from a number of top clubs at the time, Fowler returned to Melbourne just days later and reconciled. Jones was sacked at the end of the season andCarl Ditterich returned as captain-coach.

Although Melbourne did not fare much better under Ditterich, Fowler continued to stand out, winning successive Keith Truscott Medals in1979 and1980 and representingVictoria at interstate level in 1980 and1981.

Fowler walked out on Melbourne after contract negotiations failed before the start of the1982 VFL season. Instead, he spent the season in theVictorian Football Association (VFA) withWaverley. He then became captain-coach of fellow VFA clubSpringvale, leading them to the Second Division flag in1983.

^[1]

• Laurie Fowler's playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Profile at Demonwiki

• 1951 births
• Living people
• Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)
• Richmond Football Club players
• Richmond Football Club premiership players
• Melbourne Football Club players
• Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy winners
• Casey Demons players
• Casey Demons coaches
• Waverley Football Club players
• VFL/AFL premiership players

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