Trent Cotchin to return from back soreness for clash against North MelbourneHerald-Sun
September 1, 2015RICHMOND captain Trent Cotchin expects to be fit to lead the Tigers against North Melbourne on Friday night as they look to shore up a home final.
Cotchin missed Saturday’s 27-point win over Essendon with what was described as “back soreness’’ but intends to push himself at training this week.
“The back’s fine. I’ll train on Tuesday and just make sure all is well,’’ Cotchin said.
“I’d hope to be as close to 100 per cent as possible, although I don’t think many footballers run out at 100 per cent at this time of year.’’
The Tigers face the possibility of playing Adelaide in Adelaide in an elimination final if they fall to the Kangaroos on Friday.
The Crows would need to beat Geelong at Simonds Stadium a day later to deliver that nightmare scenario.
Cotchin said general soreness and a family bereavement had contributed to him not playing at his best in his most recent outing, a 13-disposal game against Collingwood a fortnight ago.
“It was one of those ones where I’ve been a bit sore for a couple of weeks,’’ Cotchin said.
“I got through some training last week without doing any contested stuff. It’s always a challenging position to be in.
“The output probably wasn’t there the previous week (against Collingwood) so it was really about making sure the body was ready to go coming into this weekend.
“I think it was just a build-up of things. And there’s other stuff that goes on outside of the football club that’s also out of your control. I’d probably prefer not to go into it too much, but a family member passed away.’’
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said the Tigers opted to rest Cotchin because he had been “battered’’ and “sore’’ for a couple of weeks.
“To push it he probably could (have played against Essendon) but he’s too valuable a player to put in that situation,’’ Hardwick said.
Cotchin said his week off had allowed the Tigers to give an opportunity to big-bodied midfielder Matt Thomas, who had 20 disposals in just his second game of the season.
“I felt that Thommo had been playing some really good footy at VFL level so it was also an opportunity for him, and he performed really well,’’ Cotchin said.
Cotchin acknowledged that the win over Essendon wasn’t the Tigers’ prettiest effort of the season, but “the great thing for us at the moment is that we’re winning games of footy but there are still plenty of areas for improvement for us to work on”.
He felt the Tigers were better placed than they were going into last year’s finals series, but said they would not fall for the trap of looking beyond Round 23.
“Last year we had to win every game just to give ourselves an opportunity to play finals,’’ Cotchin said.
“We played some consistent footy in the back part of the season, whereas I think this year we’ve played decent footy for a fair chunk of the year, but it’s just about putting four-quarter efforts together. So that’s the challenge.
“Our focus doesn’t need to go any further ahead than Friday night. We need a four-quarter performance to carry some confidence into the finals.
“They (the Kangaroos) have come off the back off eight wins before their loss (to the Bulldogs) so they’ll be ready for a big clash as well.’’
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/trent-cotchin-to-return-from-back-soreness-for-clash-against-north-melbourne/story-fndv8t7m-1227506768291
