One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: one-eyed on August 16, 2014, 02:54:12 AM
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A more aggressive Trent Cotchin one of a few reasons behind Richmond’s six-game winning streak
Mark Robinson
Herald Sun
August 16, 2014
IT WAS the day after the night before and Richmond had failed against Sydney at the MCG.
It had been a torrid Round 14 game. The Tigers booted 1.5 after half-time, played footy’s version of sideways and backwards and at 3-10 They had a bye in Round 8), there were more critics than 45-year-old male fans wearing their Tigers jumpers over their flannelette shirts.
Then skipper Trent Cotchin fronted on SEN Radio.
There was nothing remarkable being said until Cotchin snapped back at a question about whether kicking a single goal in a half was good football.
It wasn’t anger. It was a more like a growl from a dog who was tired of his tail being yanked.
The retort became the subject of commentary. Garry Lyon loved it. So did Wayne Carey. So did David King. They loved that Cotchin was making stand in the face of incessant media bashing.
Coincidence or not, the Tigers have not lost a game since.
So much is dissected about why and when a team falters or surges.
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick has talked about attitude for the past month. It reflects in their contested ball and hardball numbers. But it has to start somewhere.
It is said that Ivan Maric is one of the catalysts. He’s the general, he’s fit, he’s big and he’s contagiously enthusiastic. There’s Anthony Miles in the past eight weeks. There’s Alex Rance at centre half-back who played only four games in the first 10. And Brandon Ellis. And Brett Deledio forward. And Dusty’s season.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The leadership of Cotchin cannot be ignored, either.
He did it tough for the first half of the season and because of it, there wasn’t a captain in the competition under the spotlight like Cotchin.
Trent Cotchin in full flight against Brisbane in Round 16. Picture :WAYNE LUDBEY
Cotchin had a quiet start to the 2014 season. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Corp Australia
The pressure came early. The Tigers lost three of their first four games and late in the Round 4 game against Collingwood Cotchin lashed out at his tagger Brent Macaffer, swiping him off the ball.
There were two ways to look at it. 1) Macaffer got to him or 2) Cotchin took a stand.
Would like to think it was the latter, but suspect it was the former, and suspect it was a snapshot of the pressure of leading a team was quickly caving under expectation.
From there the Tigers gasped for victories and it probably didn’t get any more damning than in Round 12, when the Tigers went in at half-time six goals ahead of North Melbourne and lost by 28 points.
Come Sydney and Cotchin finally had enough of the sniping of his football club
The Richmond players would’ve heard the interview or heard about it and you have to wonder what sort of impact it had internally.
Jack Riewoldt recently said of his captain: “We’ve developed a bit of steely resolve and I suppose all of the credit, or most of the credit has got to go to the captain.
“We’ve done a lot of personal stuff over the last three months and a lot of it has been public in terms of us talking to Trent saying we want him to demand more from us.”
Leadership comes easy for some and certainly in various forms.
Joel Selwood, Luke Hodge, Mark Ricuitto and Michael Voss were likely descendants of the Vikings. Kill or be killed.
Wayne Carey, James Hird, Jonathan Brown and Stephen Kernahan led by deeds
Nick Maxwell, Richie Vandenberg, Stu Maxfield and Tom Harley were team-first characters.
Cotchin is not like any of them, yet
Mainly because he’s young — he’s 24 and been captain for only 43 games — and his leadership is a journey to be explored and enhanced.
Hardwick told the Herald Sun this week: “We always felt he would grow into the role and it is the same for any young leader in any walk of life.”
One champion captain, who didn’t want to be named, said Cotchin reminded him of himself in the formative years.
He said you find yourself captaining by consensus. That you try to instil your beliefs without upsetting anyone. Then one day it clicks: “Of course, you still listen to advice, still take stuff, but you say, ‘stuff it, I’m doing this ... we’re all doing this.’’
What is leadership? A textbook description is: “It involves defining the direction of a team and communicating it to people, motivating, inspiring and empowering them to contribute to achieving organisational success.’’
Of course, football leadership is so much more. It is about inspiring and empowering, but it’s also about pointing the finger at your mate for not putting his head over the ball. It’s about challenging a man’s mettle as a footballer and a teammate in a brutal environment.
Internally, the Tigers have noted a more aggressive attitude from Cotchin.
Said Hardwick: “Trent understands he can’t take it all on himself and those around him understand they have to lead as well.”
In another interview, the day after Tyrone Vickery belted Dean Cox, we heard a more ruthless Cotchin. While he stressed he didn’t condone Vickery’s actions, he was pragmatic enough to know — and courageous enough to say it — that Cox being off the ground gave the Tigers an edge, which they had to try to exploit.
Garry Lyon didn’t like that comment, nor did a lot of people.
I thought, despite the horror of the hit and despite Cotchin’s awkward explanation, it was something a young Viking would say.
http://www.stuff/story-e6frf3e3-1227025716048
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All hail the young viking :bow
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What a stuffing idiot Robbo is.
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All hail the young viking :bow
:clapping
We need to be despised not felt sorry for!
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"It is said that Ivan Maric is one of the catalysts. He’s the general, he’s fit, he’s big and he’s contagiously enthusiastic."
and whom without, Cotchin struggled.
For me, and I've been thinking hard about this, Ivan IS the vibe of that team.
My next memory is of the club deciding on the eve of season 2014 that he needed the ankle scraped.
All the more ridiculous is that he was off the track during pre season as the result of another surgical procedure and SHOULD have had the matter tended to then.
They were lost without him.
Fact.
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(http://www.richmondfc.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/Media/Images/257936-tlsnewsportrait.jpg)
You complete me!
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(http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Trent+Cotchin+Richmond+v+Essendon+2QUSMNEgFq2l.jpg)
You complete me!
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(http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2012/08/14/1226450/207899-trent-cotchin.jpg)
You had me at hello!
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Good article that, nailed it :clapping
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(http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Trent+Cotchin+Richmond+v+Essendon+2QUSMNEgFq2l.jpg)
You complete me!
Next time can you crop Thomas out, thanks ;D
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Trent Cotchin's new captaincy style the key to Tigers' turnaround
Liam Mannix
The Age
August 18, 2014.
If Richmond's hot streak is built on raised training standards, then that in turn may be built on the hard line club captain Trent Cotchin has started to take with teammates.
Richmond has won seven on the trot and is now a real chance to make finals. It's likely it would have already been locked in had the side's start to the year not been so awful, with three wins and 10 losses.
In recent weeks Richmond's senior leaders have publicly put much of that early poor form down to lax training standards. And after the club's important win against Adelaide on Saturday night Cotchin told 3AW he had started to impose his own standards on his teammates.
"I probably just needed to say more when I saw it,'' he said. "I felt that initially spending more time with individuals was my go, being a younger leader.
"I feel like you need to have the relationships first before you can start whacking blokes, which I feel that I've really grown especially with some of the younger guys. Now I feel that I'm in a position that if I see something out on the track or in the change rooms I can just not so much whack blokes but put them on notice, make sure they take a step forward not a step backward."
Cotchin is only 24, and he has been captain for less than 50 games – he is very much still learning his craft. He said it had been his teammates calling for him to be more aggressive with them that was the catalyst for his change.
"I've probably gone back to moreso my natural way of leading,'' he said. "I was trying to be the perfect leader. You don't want to stand on too many people's toes, but the reality is you're voted in by your peers because they think you have something to offer the group as a leader," Cotchin said.
"By having that stuff by my peers gave me the confidence to grow and go back to the basics of probably what gave me an opportunity to become a leader of a proud club in the first place."
Richmond beat Adelaide by 10 points, and now sits ninth on the ladder – only percentage behind its vanquished foe. Coach Damien Hardwick said after the match he was always confident the team's form would turn around.
"We always knew that if we continued to work hard the wheel would turn," Hardwick said.
"We knew we weren't too far away. The win/loss column said we were, but we knew that if we continued to work hard with some things we put in place over the course of the summer all that would turn.
"I'm incredibly proud of our footy club the way they've battled against the odds to get us in a position to play [finals]."
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/richmond-tigers/trent-cotchins-new-captaincy-style-the-key-to-tigers-turnaround-20140817-10529e.html#ixzz3AffYDJj7
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A more aggressive Trent Cotchin one of a few reasons behind Richmond’s six-game winning streak
Mark Robinson
Herald Sun
August 16, 2014
One champion captain, who didn’t want to be named, said Cotchin reminded him of himself in the formative years.
He said you find yourself captaining by consensus. That you try to instil your beliefs without upsetting anyone. Then one day it clicks: “Of course, you still listen to advice, still take stuff, but you say, ‘stuff it, I’m doing this ... we’re all doing this.’’
http://www.stuff/story-e6frf3e3-1227025716048
Who do you think would make a comment like that? Me thinks Ben Cousins?
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A more aggressive Trent Cotchin one of a few reasons behind Richmond’s six-game winning streak
Mark Robinson
Herald Sun
August 16, 2014
One champion captain, who didn’t want to be named, said Cotchin reminded him of himself in the formative years.
V
He said you find yourself captaining by consensus. That you try to instil your beliefs without upsetting anyone. Then one day it clicks: “Of course, you still listen to advice, still take stuff, but you say, ‘stuff it, I’m doing this ... we’re all doing this.’’
http://www.stuff/story-e6frf3e3-1227025716048
Who do you think would make a comment like that? Me thinks Ben Cousins?
voss.......
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Richie Vandenburg?
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Kane Johnson
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Kane Johnson
Yesssssss!
Apparently made the comment whilst relieving himself at the local police station! Absolute champ!
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Brad Green?
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Nick Maxwell?
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Leigh Colbert?
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Kane Johnson
Yesssssss!
Apparently made the comment whilst relieving himself at the local police station! Absolute champ!
Cap'n Pee-Pee.