Trent Cotchin's ferocious tackling leaves Jack Riewoldt impressedScott Spits
The Age
March 31, 2017Richmond's gritty 19-point win over Collingwood was partly a story of the Magpies' squandered opportunities in the first half but what was more telling was some of the individual acts when the match was still up for grabs deep into the final quarter.
Enter Trent Cotchin. The Richmond captain laid two superb tackles in time-on, one preventing a certain Collingwood inside 50 and goal-scoring chance, the second a great grab on Collingwood dasher Adam Treloar with the Magpies just 11 points down with less than two minutes to play.
For those who gave their footy news a miss during the summer months, here's a quick reminder: Cotchin is one of the most recently awarded AFL Brownlow medallists. Yes, it was for his 2012 season (along with Sam Mitchell of course) but Friday night was a reminder that the Tigers skipper is still an elite player.
There have been some similar themes from Richmond's opening two wins over Carlton and Collingwood that have given the Tigers a 2-0 start, just the third time since 1995 that they have managed that marker.
Pressure and pressure acts – across the playing group. And, oh, there's Dustin Martin – more on him later. The Tigers are getting a better spread of contributors and can boast a small injury list and an in-form VFL team. Damien Hardwick had the luxury of making three unforced changes ahead of this tricky assignment against the Magpies.
Cotchin had 26 possessions, kicked two goals and had seven tackles in the 14.15 (99) to 11.14 (80) victory.
One of his deputy vice-captains, Jack Riewoldt, had little doubt about the importance of Cotchin's final quarter.
"It was an excellent team effort," Riewoldt said.
"A highlight for mine was probably the last three minutes there. Two big tackles from the captain. And that's what we've come to expect from him. We've put it on him. He really stood up when we needed him."
Collingwood had given Richmond a wall to break through after a second-quarter return of 2.5 and two shots out on the full. A 10-point lead at half-time to the Pies just wasn't enough. It took until midway through the third quarter for the Tigers to gain the ascendancy but thereafter they had the whip hand and were able to withstand Collingwood surges.
"They probably sort of kept us in the game, or kept us close enough in the game in that second quarter when they did miss some chances," Riewoldt said.
"But credit to our group. We had the ability to fight back, not go into our shells at half-time.
"Everyone was pretty cool, calm and collected down here and understood what we needed to do."
Richmond also had to overcome a game-ending concussion to high-flying forward Ben Griffiths. After soaring above the pack for an early mark of the year nomination before half-time, Griffiths was concussed after another marking attempt on the members' wing in the third quarter.
It forced him out of the game and the Tigers had to reshuffle. In some ways it worked to their advantage. Shaun Grigg went into some of the rucking contests and at one stage he successfully "exploited" the new third man up rule when his opponent didn't keep his eye on the play. Grigg won a free kick in front of goal and kicked truly.
"Credit to the guys that stood up in those moments," Riewoldt said.
"I thought Dustin [Martin] was fantastic.
"One guy who didn't have the highest disposals was Josh Caddy, who really had an impact as well.
"After Griffiths going down, we had to manoeuvre it and get Shaun Grigg into the ruck, and Josh sort of had to play a bit more key forward.
"It shows that guys have got more strings to their bow – an all-round performance, which is really exciting."
Back to Martin. True, he didn't deliver a second four-goal performance and three guaranteed Brownlow votes. But he was still one of Richmond's best. Two final-quarter goals and a healthy swag of possessions can attest to that.
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/richmond-v-collingwood-trent-cotchins-ferocious-tackling-leaves-jack-riewoldt-impressed-20170331-gvaqsl.html
