And he should know - over three seasons, Bowden played 28 games for Northland, Otago's opponent at Carisbrook tonight.
"The guys are going to be hurting. They are going to come out with something to prove," Bowden said.
"They gave me an introduction to first-class rugby and really helped me in my career. It was a good time and I learnt a lot."
Northland, along with Tasman, was told this week it would not be invited to play in the Air New Zealand Cup next year.
Bowden, though, will not be concentrating tonight on the future of the Cambridge Blues.
He wants to make an impact in the darker blue jersey.
The 22-year-old first five-eighth will make his run-on debut for Otago, after getting 20min off the bench last week.
It will be a welcome start in the side, during a season which has been interrupted by injury.
Bowden transferred south with high hopes of directing the Highlanders around the paddock, and making a real impact in his first season in Super 14.
But he suffered a tear in his right quad in pre-season training, and it was with him the entire campaign.
"It meant I couldn't really kick properly and could not hit top speed. I couldn't really stretch out and go for it."
Bowden struggled initially with the step up to Super 14 rugby, but, just as he was finding his feet, he collided with a Bulls player in Pretoria in mid-April, and suffered a serious concussion.
He was sent home from Africa but managed to come back for the final game of the season, the memorable win over the Crusaders.
"I took four weeks off at the end of the Super 14 where I was told not to kick a ball. So I went home to Auckland and kept the fitness up."
The rest helped him clear his head, which was now fine.
But he suffered a further knock when, in a warm-up game against Wellington,he received bruised ribs, and was out for a further three weeks.
Bowden has been keeping one eye on the Olympics where his partner, Hayley Moorwood, captained the Football Ferns, the New Zealand women's football team.
"I speak to her most days. They were going good and were a bit unlucky in some of the games."
The football team was knocked out after the first round, losing two games, and drawing one.
Northland trump card David Holwell is bracketed with Derek Carpenter after being laid low by a virus for the past 10 days.
Holwell, who has played more than 240 first-class games, did not play against Hawkes Bay last Saturday.
Due to the peculiarities of the draw, Northland will play at Carisbrook for the third year in a row.
It has lost the previous two games.
Last year, a Charlie Hore drop goal late in the game clinched victory for the home side.
Otago coach Steve Martin said Otago had been working on its set pieces this week.
He felt Canterbury almost seemed to be able to pick its line-out last week.
Martin said Otago had trained well this week.
Prop Jed Vercoe has dropped out of the reserves for Otago with a strained back.
University A prop Sam Hibbard comes on to the bench.
The game kicks off at 7.35pm.
Lyndon Bray (Wellington) is the referee.
Otago team for tonight's game
Glen Horton, Lucky Mulipola, Brett Mather, Aaron Bancroft, Karne Hesketh, Daniel Bowden, Toby Morland, Steven Setephano, Craig Newby (captain), Seko Qaraniqio, Tom Donnelly, Ross Kennedy, Ben Nolan, Jason MacDonald, Keith Cameron.
Reserves: Peter Mirrielees, Sam Hibbard, Paul Grant, Eben Joubert, Sean Romans, Chris Noakes, Ben Smith.
