Cotchin understood wife's motiveDaniel Cherny
The Age
23 May 2016Richmond captain Trent Cotchin has opened up about the controversial public comments about his wife Brooke, noting that "criticism doesn't just affect the people it's said about, it's the people that care about them as well".
Brooke leapt to her husband's defence following the Tigers' round four loss to West Coast, questioning his detractors on Instagram.
"Every week you go out and and give your all. To have to listen to constant criticism you have had to put up with especially of late has been incredibly hard," Brooke wrote.
She later followed up those comments with a newspaper interview.
Cotchin said he understood why Brooke had acted as she did.
"I think she just sees what other people are saying or thinking outside of our four walls, and then obviously our family and friends," he told Channel Nine on Sunday.
"But the reality is criticism doesn't just affect the people it's said about, it's the people that care about them as well."
Cotchin returned from a broken cheekbone to star in Richmond's 38-point win over Fremantle at Domain Stadium on Saturday night. Donning a helmet, the midfielder continued his strong season, accumulating 39 disposals as the Tigers continued their mini-resurgence, winning their second successive game. Damien Hardwick's side is now 3-6 ahead of next weekend's Dreamtime clash with Essendon.
Cotchin had come under heavy scrutiny over the season's first month, as Richmond struggled to meet pre-season expectations.
While acknowledging that some of the criticism stung, he said he had strived to focus on his football.
"It's more about how much of it you allow to affect you. Obviously it's not nice having negative things said about you, but the reality is there's so many people out there that have opinions and need to write pieces whether it's in the paper or on media channels, or just the general public as well. They start to jump on board and believe what's written and said.
"The challenge for me was to keep my head, make sure to continue doing what I knew my strengths were for our football club."
Cotchin was unperturbed by having to wear a helmet for another couple of weeks. So long as he is playing and Richmond are winning, the skipper will be happy.
"It was fantastic to taste that winning feeling.
"The message for us as a group is that we're working at playing four quarters of competitive footy week in, week out."
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