Where Tiger greats rank Trent Cotchin among Richmond legendsJon Pierik
The Age
June 16, 2023Throughout their storied history, the Tigers have sired a pantheon of champions.
Francis Bourke, Kevin Bartlett, Vic Thorp, Jack Titus and Matthew Richardson are among the names that roll off the tongue.
From left: Richmond greats Geoff Raines, Francis Bourke, Trent Cotchin, Jack Dyer and Kevin Bartlett.CREDIT:DIGITAL COMPOSITE BY MONIQUE WESTERMANNOn Saturday, they will salute one of the champions of their recent golden age under former coach Damien Hardwick, Trent Cotchin, the three-time premiership captain who will become only the sixth Tiger to reach 300 games.
Cotchin, taken with the No.2 pick of the 2007 national draft behind great mate Matthew Kreuzer (Carlton), has done it all, from (retrospectively) sharing the 2012 Brownlow Medal, to being a three-time best-and-fairest winner, to tasting the ultimate team success while being the club’s longest-serving captain.
“It’s amazing to be part of such a special club for such a long period of time, so many memories created,” Cotchin said.
There remains one man regarded as the greatest Tiger of all – Jack Dyer. Nicknamed “Captain Blood”, Dyer epitomised all that the Tigers stood for through the rugged 1930s and ’40s.
Honour roll
Trent Cotchin becomes only the sixth Tiger to reach 300 games, when he runs out against St Kilda on Saturday night. The three-time premiership skipper and star onballer has redefined leadership and, in doing so, has etched his place into club lore.
Premierships: 2017, 2019, 2020
Grand finals: 2017, 2019, 2020
Brownlow Medal: 2012 (equal winner)
Club best-and-fairest winner: 2011, 2012, 2014
Club best-and-fairest third: 2016
All-Australian: 2012
Captain: 2013-21
AFL life membership: 2022
Drafted: 2007 national draft, pick two (Matthew Kreuzer was pick No.1 for Carlton)
“I think we always say Jack is No.1. He is such an iconic figure, and an ‘eat ’em alive’ spirit. Put Jack at No.1, and anyone else can fit in anywhere they like,” Bartlett said this week.
But Captain Blood’s status aside, we asked five Richmond greats what Cotchin has meant to the club, and where he stands among the iconic figures of yesteryear.
Francis Bourke
Richmond Team of the Century
AFL Hall of Fame
300 games
Premierships: 1967, ’69, ’73, ’74, ’80
Richmond coach: 1982-83
“Obviously, he and Dusty [Martin] and Jack [Riewoldt] have been the leaders of a marvellous five-or-six-year period for the Tigers. What I really admire about Cotch is, he was drafted No.2, and he and Jack and Dusty have seen the tough times as well, and enjoyed the fruits of their skills and labour in latter times,” Bourke said.
“I think that is a marvellous tribute to them, and Cotch in particular, because he was the leader. They were part of the resurrection of the on-field fortunes of the Tigers, and they have my admiration.
“What springs to mind is that blind turn he did in the last few moments of the qualifying final against Geelong in 2017, then kicked the ball left foot through the goals from 30 or 40 yards out. That was a sublimely skilful act of a very, very talented footballer. Of course, he has been hard at it in the midfield as well.
“There are not too many attributes that are needed to be a champion that Cotch hasn’t got. He is no giant, either. He has played a hard, physical game over the last few years in particular, whether he saw that’s what he had to do as a leader, that is a question for him. He has my admiration.”
Bourke said Cotchin’s body of work meant he was among the top five Tigers of all time.
“He would have to be, just on his record. Don’t ask me to name them in order,” Bourke said.
“He is right up there, as to exactly where, that is a subjective opinion.”
Kevin Bartlett
Richmond Team of the Century
AFL Hall of Fame, legend status
403 games
Premierships: 1967, ’69, ’73, ’74, '80
Richmond coach: 1988-91
“He is one of the modern-day greats, there is no doubt about that. He has been a great champion from the first day he came to the club. Everyone said he was going to be a great player, he was so highly regarded, but he turned out to be not only a great player, but a great leader,” Bartlett said.
“He holds a very special place in the club’s history because his leadership of the side was able to get the Tigers back as a force - in 2017, 2019 and 2020 winning premierships - after a 37-year gap.
“He helped to create new heroes for the Tigers. A 37-year gap is a long time, you can only watch so many old videos and hear so many old stories and see so many old photographs, and that sort of stuff.
Two of the best: Jack Dyer and Kevin Bartlett share a laugh in 1981.CREDIT:THE AGE“Families and young kids and young supporters, they need new heroes that they can see and touch and watch and be part of, and he was at the forefront of that in driving the club in terms of its discipline, what was required to be a good player and be a good team.
“He has got to get tremendous accolades for his leadership during that period of time in helping the club become the success, and return Richmond to being a powerhouse on the field and off the field.”
Bartlett said Cotchin had been mature beyond his years when he walked through the Punt Rd doors for the first time.
“I remember sitting with him when he was first drafted, it must have been at some function we were at. He had left school, and I asked him about going to ‘schoolies’, and he said he didn’t go because he wanted to concentrate on football and doing the right thing, and focusing on what was ahead,” Bartlett said.
High flyer: Geoff Raines was one of the game’s best midfielders in the early 1980s.CREDIT:JOHN LAMB“I thought: ‘Gee, for a young kid, he is really focused’.” I think he has shown that right throughout his career. He is a very humble champion. He is a great person to meet, very engaging, and he has such a fantastic pickup as pick No.2 behind Matthew Kreuzer, who was a great friend of his at the time, and probably still is. It was Richmond’s lucky day that they had pick two, and they got him.”
Bartlett said Cotchin’s willingness to alter his game in 2017 - Cotchin this week recalled the need to establish a better team environment to win a premiership - had helped the Tigers engineer a remarkable turnaround.
“In 2016, the Tigers got smashed towards the end of the season, against GWS at Manuka Oval. I was commentating, the Tigers were beaten by 12, 13 or 14 goals [88-point loss]. Then the last game of the year, they played Sydney, and at three-quarter-time, it was something like 20 goals to two. It was an extraordinary scoreline [the Tigers lost by 113 points],” Bartlett said.
“Then to think from 2016 that you could win the premiership in 2017, no one could really see that jump. Trent, who was a massive contributor of possessions at that stage, and Dusty might have been another one, they were great accumulators, but they changed the way they played. Instead of accumulating, they still wanted to accumulate, but it was more: ‘We want to go forwards, we don’t want to go backwards all the time, or sideways, or just keep kicking the ball to each other across the half-back flank’.
“That’s a great credit to people to change the way they are playing and thinking what is best for the side, and to have success.”
So, where does Cotchin rank among the club’s greats?
Richmond games record
Kevin Bartlett 403
Jack Riewoldt 338 *
Jack Dyer 312
Shane Edwards 303
Francis Bourke 300
Trent Cotchin 299 *
* Still playing
“I am not very good at saying the top 10. Victor Thorp, Jack Dyer and Jack Titus … what happens, we live in the present, people just fade away into the distance.
“People forget Dick Harris, at Richmond, for instance, was one of the greats, kicked about 570 goals as a rover, back in the ’30s.
“But he [Cotchin] is one of the great modern-day players, not only one of the modern-day great players for Richmond, but he is one of the great modern-day players in the competition.”
Geoff Raines
Richmond Team of the Century
134 games
Best and fairest: 1978, ’80, ’81
Premiership: 1980
“He has captained three premierships, no other Tiger has done that. That’s a fantastic effort. He also has three best and fairests. He has been a great leader, tough, disciplined, all the requirements for a great captain,” Raines said.
Raines said Cotchin put a greater focus on midfield “toughness” midway through his career.
“He led from the front. I think that change [in 2017 when the Tigers changed their game plan] revolutionised him. He earned the hard ball, and led the way in the midfield. I think he sacrificed his game a bit to do that, very admirable. That helped turn the team around.
“He has good skills, left foot, right foot, and hits targets - he knew what he was about.”
Raines said Cotchin was among the finest Tigers of all time.
“It puts him in the upper echelon, for sure. He has 300 games - only five have played 300. It speaks for itself,” Raine said.
Asked if Cotchin would win a spot in an updated Richmond team of the century, Raines said: “He will certainly be in the next one, that’s for sure.”
Wayne Campbell
Richmond Hall of Fame
297 games
Captain 2001-04
Best and fairest: 1995, 1997,1999, 2002
Former Tigers football department official
Campbell said Cotchin’s attentive ways and family-man demeanour were on show from day one.
“He was always a really mature young man, even from the day he was drafted. My sense was that he almost needed to relax a bit into himself, as opposed to trying to be the perfect role model the whole time … but I wasn’t there when that whole vulnerability piece (in 2017) happened,” Campbell said.
“But that’s kind of what I thought when I saw him as a young fella - to just be him, and not try and be perfect, and live the perfect life, and be the perfect person, show that you have flaws.
“He was already a really good player and a really good leader and captain, but from ’17 onwards it all just flourished from a slightly, I imagine, different approach to things. To change the way he played a little bit, to be more [about] maximum impact, which he has absolutely been, three premierships as a captain, it’s about as good as it gets.
Richmond team of the century (selected in 1999)
B: Kevin Sheedy Vic Thorp Michael Green
HB: Basil McCormack Gordon Strang Merv Keane
C: Francis Bourke Bill Barrot Dick Clay
HF: Matthew Richardson Royce Hart Roger Dean
F: Dale Weightman Jack Titus Bill Morris
R: Roy Wright Jack Dyer (c) Kevin Bartlett
I/C: Ian Stewart Des Rowe Geoff Raines Matthew Knights
Coach: Tom Hafey
“When Richmond changed their style to be really fast moving, just get the ball moving forward, it absolutely suited him, because he was tough inside [the contest] … an absolute battering ram, tackling machine and thrashing machine, getting the ball forward.
“He is not Dustin Martin as a kick, he is a nice kick but, he is not Dustin, so to get the ball moving forward more suited his skill set.”
Campbell said Cotchin’s unlikely friendship with Martin had been beneficial for each man.
“It’s almost the epitome of his growth as a leader, to take someone under his wing that couldn’t be further from the way he was, and the way he lived his life, and everything like that,” Campbell said.
“He was married with kids, and Dusty is still single. For him to do that, I reckon was a real sign of maturity and leadership. In those scenarios, when you are leading people and doing it the right way, it can only make you grow as well.
Trent Cotchin (right) and Dustin Martin with the 2017 premiership cup.CREDIT:WAYNE LUDBEY“I think people would view him in a different light because of the way he went about that. He was always a selfless person, he just wasn’t a lad. When you are that person and a leader, it is a bit harder to get that connection with people, and you have to work in different ways, but he, obviously, found different ways to do that.”
Campbell, a former hard-running midfielder, said Cotchin ranked as one of the 10 greatest Tigers.
“I would have thought so. I think Dustin is in the conversation as two, three, four something like that. Trent is not in that sphere as a player, but does he come into the top 10? I think so.
“To be a three-time premiership captain, means more than that. He is as important a player as has played at the club.”
Brendon Gale
244 games
Tigers life member
Tigers chief executive officer
“What an incredible player he has been. His growth as a leader has mirrored the growth of the club. He has redefined leadership. He’s, obviously, a three-time premiership captain, broken all sorts of records,” Gale said
“I guess when I look back at Trent, and I look back at the biggest, biggest games, and the biggest moments when the whips are cracking, I look at some of his big plays that maybe some people don’t notice - the big tackles, the big blocks, he’s right there amongst the thick of it.
“He has just been an incredible servant of our footy club, and we are so lucky. We couldn’t have asked for a better captain over the last decade or so.”
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/where-trent-cotchin-ranks-among-richmond-legends-20230613-p5dg7j.html
