Trent Cotchin - Making his MarkBy ASHLEY BROWNE
AFL Record - Round 14, 2010After a horror start to the season, Richmond has wiped the slate clean, winning three of its past four matches and tackling the future with confidence. And leading the way is Trent Cotchin, a precocious 20-year-old who has the football world at his feet.So here we are. Round eight this year at the MCG and it's Richmond versus Hawthorn. And it's close. Too close, in fact, for the Hawks when you consider that not only are the Tigers winless, but they are supposedly good things to become the first team since Fitzroy in 1964 not to win a game all season.
It's the final quarter. Hawthorn needs one more goal to put the game away for keeps, but as good as its midfield is, it's getting killed at the stoppages.
And the player stopping the likes of Sam Mitchell, Brad Sewell and Shaun Burgoyne getting first use of the ball is Trent Cotchin.
The 20-year-old plays an enormous last quarter for the brave Tigers, who could have won the game had Shane Tuck not been tackled by Mitchell just as he was winding up to kick what would likely have been the winning goal.
The Hawks won by three points, but the moral victory belonged to Richmond, and the talk of the match was Cotchin, with his 27 touches and 11 clearances.
Since being selected by the Tigers with the No. 2 pick at the 2007 NAB AFL Draft, Cotchin has given Tiger fans glimpses of how good he could be. That afternoon against the Hawks, many among the 40,000 people who left the MCG were asking the same question, "How good is Cotchin?"
For both Richmond and Cotchin, the Hawthorn game was the most important of the season. Never mind there have been three wins since, each impressive in their own way. The Hawthorn game demonstrated
to the club it was on the right track under first-year coach Damien Hardwick, and to Cotchin that he had the makings of an elite midfielder.
"It was our turning point," Cotchin said last week, as he prepared for a welcome few days away from Tigerland as part of the club's split round bye weekend. "We played to our own structures and played for four quarters.
"That was important for us and, even though it was disappointing to go down, we sat down as a group with the coaching staff and pretty much said that our season was starting."
Vision from that afternoon shows Hardwick addressing his players intently before they left the ground.
In subsequent interviews, Hardwick has admitted the slate was wiped clean after that match and that, in effect, the Tigers' season was starting again. That being the case, to stretch the point, the Tigers are 3-2 and among the form teams of the competition.
"It was my best game," Cotchin said of the Hawthorn match. "And the most complete.
I'd had a few good halves but I played that game at a standard and that's the standard I'm setting for myself. Until I get to that level on a consistent basis, I won't be happy."
It has taken Cotchin until his third year before giving himself the chance to take a game on and really dominate. He managed 15 games on debut in 2008 and 10 last season, but those campaigns came on the back of severely restricted pre-seasons. His ailments have included a broken foot in the season before he was drafted, two achilles injuries and a hip complaint.
He entered this season having done far more work than in past summers, but still took part in only about 75 per cent of the work.
"Obviously, I'm looking forward to the next pre-season," he said. "I'm the fittest I've ever been, but the best thing for me is that I know the next level I need to go to, which is what you need in the AFL when you're competing against Chris Judd, GaryAblett, Jimmy Bartel and others."
What this season has demonstrated to Cotchin is that he has the game to become one of the better midfielders in the AFL.
"I think it's been OK. It's just nice to be getting consistent games under my belt. I've got full confidence in my body, which is a nice thing to have," he said.
"Mentally, footy is a tough game, so I think the wins have helped me enormously, because it gives us faith that we're going in the right direction."
Cotchin is not the type to offer bulletin board material for a coming opponent. Not for him are any grand proclamations about his place in the game, now or in the future.
But speak to him for just a few minutes and you get a sense of quiet determination and the knowledge of what he and his team needs to do to get to the next level, a sure sign of the growing confidence and maturity
around Punt Road.
"As a team, it's been great to have had some success over the last few weeks. There's nothing more exciting about having that win and feeling like you've achieved something," he said.
"The chips were down earlier in the season and there's nothing better than having a few wins and have the belief going our way."
Each of Richmond's three wins had something special about it. The first came in the slop at AAMI Stadium, where the Tigers were just too hard at the ball and the player for a struggling Port Adelaide.
"The conditions made it even nicer," Cotchin said. "We slugged it out for the whole game and, while we weren't able to play to our game style, it was really good to get the monkey off the back as they say.
"And going by the reports in the media, nobody has seen a club song sung with as much passion as we did it, so it was great to be able to achieve something as a really young group."
A fortnight later came the hammering of West Coast at the MCG. The biggest handicap for the Tigers that week may have been themselves, given it was the first time in the Hardwick era that they entered a match as favourites.
"A four-quarter continuous effort and making sure everyone played their role was the key for us winning that match," was Cotchin's straight-forward assessment.
But the win at the Gabba a fortnight ago against the Brisbane Lions was a different match yet again.
"The two other wins were good, decent wins (and) we didn't need to worry in the final quarter because the games were safe. So it was nice against Brisbane to have a battle on our hands, and the way we fought through it was great."
Jack Riewoldt has been the talk of Richmond for the past month and his 10-goal haul against the Eagles in round 12 vaulted him to the lead for the Coleman Medal.
But the key to the Tigers' improvement has come from their midfield, which appears to have the key characteristics of pace, skill and strength.
Cotchin loves being part of the engine room. Dustin Martin's first season has him excited, Nathan Foley's return from injury has injected further class (although he did miss last round), Shane Edwards is the surprise packet, while old heads Ben Cousins and Shane Tuck are helping keep the group level-headed and focused.
Watching from the sidelines are midfield coaches Wayne Campbell and Brendon Lade, and Cotchin is a fan of what the pair is helping build.
"'Ladey' plans a lot of the moves at stoppages, telling us how to find the body and remove the opponent so you guard the dangerous space," Cotchin said.
"He's only just retired, so he knows what's going on. How we structure and set up at stoppages comes from both of them.
"They have both played a lot of footy and they know, if something's not working, they'll look at what can change and what can be done differently.
"It's all about us believing in them and them believing in us."
Cotchin enjoyed his time under coach Terry Wallace and (caretaker) Jade Rawlings, but believes the Tigers have found a special coach in Hardwick.
"I know a lot of guys say he is straight down the line and goes about it in the same way he did as a player, but he's a terrific bloke," he said.
"He's more than willing to get you into his office and have a chat about how you're going and even just to have a joke. He likes a gag and it's nice to have a coach who's easygoing but also firm and down the line when the going gets tough."
The word from Punt Road is that Hardwick's approach doesn't change from week to week. The key messages and key themes are constant, whether the team is coming off a belting or a win.
"That's the greatest thing about him," Cotchin said. "He hasn't changed his way; he's stuck by the game-plan and his message was that it will always work if we play four quarters. Now that it's starting to work, who knows what's to come in the future?"
Cotchin does allow himself to dream just that little bit. The MCG erupted after the win over West Coast, with more than 30,000 Tiger fans making the noise of double that number. Committed to Richmond until at least the end of 2013, he believes there will be no better place to be once, as is starting to become apparent, the sleeping giant awakens from its slumber.
"It's very exciting and that's the reason I signed on," he said. "I just have full faith in where we're going as a club and as a team. If we can keep the young blokes together and start building a team that has played a lot of football together, it's going to be very exciting for all of us.
"I just believe we have the right mix. The coaching staff gets on very well, they're always open to discussion and learning news things and we have perfect people in the administration. It's a club full of good people and it's all coming together."
ASHLEY BROWNE IS EDITOR OF BACKPAGELEAD.COM.AUFACT FILETrent Cotchin
Born; April 7,1990
from: PEGS/Northern U18
Round 8, 2008, v Geelong
185cm 85kg
Games: 37 Goals; 12 Player honours: NAB AFL Rising Star nomination 2008
Career votes 3
"I just have full
faith in where
we're going as
a club and as
a team"
TRENT COTCHIN SHARING A MATE'S PAIN Trent Cotchin is living the dream, playing footy with a bunch of mates. He has already enjoyed one match as acting captain (against Melbourne in round four) and would love the honour in a full-time capacity later in his career.
An aspiring property developer, he is also the proud owner of a new home in Melbourne's inner north-west, which he was happy to show off on national television during a broadcast of the recent Richmond-St Kilda Friday night clash.
Yet, if he wasn't aware how the game can bring you crashing back to earth, he found out a fortnight ago when his closest friend, Carlton big man Matthew Kreuzer, tore the ACL in his right knee and was ruled out for the next 12 months.
Cotchin was there to see Kreuzer when he was taken to hospital and was there again when he came out of surgery.
"You don't want that to happen to any AFL player, let alone your best mate," he said. "He's in pretty good spirits. No one can truly get the big 'Kreuz' down, but he is frustrated.
"He'll be so professional in his recovery and has such a strong character that he'll make an excellent recovery."
TRENT COTCHIN ON HIS MIDFIELD COMRADESDustin Martin:"Has already shown how strong he is and how he loves a contest. We have to get the ball into his hands as often as we can because he can hurt the opposition. He's still learning the game and still has a lot of development in him, so that's the most exciting thing."
Nathan Foley:"He's a very exciting player. There's no more professional player than Nathan and, once he gets his body right, he is another player for the opposition to worry about because of his really good speed."
Shane Tuck: "We lack a bit of size in there because we're young, so it's great to have a big body in there. Tucky gives 100 per cent every time, gets first to the footy and gives us first use."
Ben Cousins:"He's been terrific with the knowledge and professionalism he brings on and off the field. You can tell in the group that whenever he speaks, it's all ears, including the coaches. He's been through a bit, but it's great that he has turned his career around and he's playing some pretty good footy this year."
Shane Edwards: "He's going to become one of the best players at the club. He's a high-quality midfielder, very composed and is able to get himself out of trouble a lot."
