Trent Cotchin Richmond's best player since Kevin Bartlett Mark Stevens
From: Herald Sun
August 15, 2012 10:00PMPUNT RD ''Post KB'' has been a desolate place.
Great players have come and gone, but since Kevin Bartlett retired in 1983 Richmond has played in two finals series - 1995 and 2001.
Wayne Campbell played 297 games, Matthew Richardson 282, Matthew Knights 279, Dale Weightman 274, Joel Bowden 265 and Brendon Gale 244.
All, barring Weightman, played their entire careers "Post KB'', with the man they call "Flea'' going into battle from 1978-1993.
But there is a massive ray of hope. The best player since "KB" is now in the Tigers' midst.
His name is Trent Cotchin.
It is a massive calll given the quality of the other names mentioned.
Weightman played in a premiership and his sheer class and hardness stood out for all to see in State-of-Origin games.
Bartlett himself rates Campbell, a man he coached, extremely highly.
And "Richo" is "Richo", the most loved of all - and a player that went agonisingly close to winning a Brownlow Medal.
But Cotchin could win a Brownlow this September and pocket a few more along the way.
At 22, he is already clearly the best player at Tigerland after only 64 games.
Champion Data rates Cotchin as elite in all key midfield categories this year, bar one - clearances, where is in the above average category.
He is averaging 26.9 disposals, 12.3 contested possessions, 438m gained, five inside-50 entries, 7.7 score involvements and 1.1 goals a game.
All those figures are elite, or in the top 10 per cent of the competition, under the Champion Data formula.
He has managed those numbers despite being tagged each week.
The undermmaned Dogs had to free up their usual tagger Liam Picken last Sunday to win some of the ball himself and we saw the destruction that followed.
With the Dogs somehow back within a goal in the early stages of the third term, Hardwick put Cotchin back into the middle and he almost single-handedly turned the tide.
It is difficult to throw forward, and there is always a risk in pulling out the crystal ball, but Cotchin shows all the qualiites of a captain and 300-game player.
Hardboiled may end up wrong, but "Cotch" looks the one.
It is impossible to rank Cotchin No.1 "Post KB" right now. That would be an insult to the other greats ... even though you might already sneak him into the top five.
But for the sake of this exercise let's fast forward five years to the end of the 2017 season.
Richmond, no doubt, will have added some more finals appearances by then, with the help of Cotchin. And Brett Deledio and Dustin Martin may have staked strong claims.
Again, this is an excerise in predicting the future.
We are leaving Michael Roach out of the running because his best footy was played with KB around.
So here we go, the crystall ball top 10 "Post KB" players at the end of 2017...
TIGERLAND CRYSTAL BALL - TOP 10 BEST RICHMOND PLAYERS "POST KB" ERA 1984-20171. Trent Cotchin
2. Matthew Richardson
3. Dale Weightman
4. Wayne Campbell
5. Matthew Knights
6. Brett Deledio
7. Dustin Martin
8. Jack Riewoldt
9. Joel Bowden
10. Brendon Gale
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/expert-opinion/trent-cotchin-richmonds-best-player-since-kevin-bartlett/story-fncqi979-1226451094856
