Richmond veteran Joel Bowden admits he is overawed at the thought of joining some of the Tigers' greatest ever players in the 250-game club.

The 30-year-old has endured a rollercoaster 2008 season when his career looked over - after he spent a month in the VFL between Rounds 4 and 7 - only to bounce back in such spectacular fashion, since returning in Round 8, that he has played a huge role in three Richmond victories in the past six weeks.

Bowden not only took a match-saving mark in the dying seconds against Port Adelaide in Round 13 but then controversially ran down the clock in the last 30 seconds to seal the Round-16 win against Essendon before winning the Round-17 match against Brisbane for his beloved Tigers with a goal at the 32-minute mark of the final term.

And Bowden's heroics have given the son of Richmond's 1969 premiership player Michael - and whose brothers Patrick and Sean also played for the Tigers - a chance at being part of only his second finals series since joining the club under the father-son rule in 1996.

While his father and brothers only played a total of 90 games for the Tigers, Bowden will this week join Kevin Bartlett, Jack Dyer, Francis Bourke, Jack Titus, Dale Weightman, Percy Bentley, Kevin Sheedy, Vic Thorp, former team-mates Wayne Campbell and Matthew Knights and current team-mate Matthew Richardson as the only players to have reached 250 games at Richmond.

And Bowden admits joining that list of champions is very much a humbling experience.

"I almost feel a bit overawed at the names that come up that have played 250 games," he said on Thursday.

"I certainly don't hold myself in the same category as some of the guys that have played 250 games at the Richmond Football Club."

But despite Bowden's modesty, he is still a dual best-and-fairest winner (2004 and 2005) and a dual All-Australian (2005 and 2006) and also one of the AFL's most durable and versatile players.

Since debuting in Round 17, 1996 - Bowden has played 249 out of a possible 269 games for the Tigers and before being dropped in Round 4 this year had actually appeared in 218 out of the club's previous 220 matches.

However despite that shock omission and sustained period in the VFL, Bowden - who is out of contract at the end of this year - never doubted his ability to force his way back into the team and is equally adamant he can go on for a few more years yet.

"I have always backed my ability, always backed my judgement and it's one of the reasons why I am able to accumulate high possessions because I am able to back my judgement and go for the ball," he said.

"I love playing footy, it's a great occupation and I am certainly keen to keep playing, yeah."

Bowden, who has played in just one winning final during his long career, said the chance to finally experience some team success - alongside fellow veteran, close mate and fellow father-son player Richardson - was also a strong motivator to keep going with the Tigers who are finally on the improve.

The two - whose fathers both played in premiership teams in the late 1960s - have seen their own careers run parallel and are now the Tigers' two most