Cotch's post-season interview with Richo ...
VIDEO:
Part 1:
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/2014-09-22/cotchin-learns-from-trying-timesPart 2:
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/2014-09-23/richo-and-cotchin-part-2Summary:* Elimination Final was very disappointing. A lot of things went wrong obviously. We reviewed the game on the Wednesday following. The good sides are able to consistently do simple things well and we couldn't do the simple things anywhere good enough on the day.
* Last year's Elim. final against Carlton was reflected on during the Adelaide game. We spoke about how it felt to throw away an opportunity.
* He will continually mention both elimination final losses throughout the preseason so we are ready to go round 1 next year and we don't get off to a bad start like we did this year.
* Looking back at earlier in the season, you thought it was just going to happen and you could produce something brilliant to get the team over the line. Reality is you need 22 contributors.
* We had good relationships with each other but it was more friendship than getting the best out of each other. We got harder on ourselves.
* No doubt Dimma in his quiet personal moments was feeling the pressure (as the losses built up) but he was the reason we stuck together and he drove us on. During the middle of the year he put it on us to reach double digit wins. He's ambitious and he saw something in us we didn't and to the boys credit we came through. We didn't feel far off it during that poor period. Even against the Bulldogs when we played that putrid first half, we came back only to lose by a couple of points.
* Where does the improvement come from?
We've got a lot of young guys. We want them to come through and put pressure on the older blokes. You see Hawthorn and Freo - they've got that really good bracket of 25-30 players that are all vying for a spot in the side every week. We want to get to that level.
* Jacko and Kingy will be missed. Jacko was part of the leadership group and drove a lot of the preseason effort as he's a fitness freak. Kingy is a tremendous person and made the Club a better place.
* It wasn't fair to question our hunger and motivation (during the poor first half of this season). We always went out there to win. It was more about us not executing the gameplan as well as we should've. It was getting back to making things simple for both the younger and older players to follow. Things started to come to fruition as we lifted our training standards as Ivan mentioned. The leaders took control.
* Cotch said he thrived from the feedback he got. He'd been asking for that feedback for a while. He was getting feedback in dribs and drabs from individuals but he wanted to stand in front of the group and hear it all at once from everybody. It was more constructive feedback. He was trying to be the perfect leader. He had to get back to being his natural self and back his instincts - if he saw something he didn't like then act on it; if it was something he liked then report it. I was trying to find my feet as a leader - what worked; what didn't. He said he was one particular way when it came to his personal morals. However, you are managing a whole group of people so you need to take that into account. You need to understand there's different personalities and understand how they tick so you can connect. It took him 18 months to piece that altogether.
* From an individual point of view there were positives (eg: Ellis, Dusty, Astbury). We blooded a number of younger blokes. Believes Vlastuin will have a big year in 2015. Flossy was disappointed about having the 2nd year blues but we all go through that. It makes you have the hunger to do better the following year. Newman signed on for another year which is exciting for our playing group although his hair is getting grey/white. Lids and Dusty played well up forward this year, Griffiths improved, and Lloyd and Gordon showed signs as first year players.
* Cotch considered his year was relatively consistent. He probably didn’t get as much outside, quality footy that he would’ve loved to get. He thinks nowadays though we have enough players who can actually provide that sort of quality. His kicking efficiency was 54% but he was playing a lot inside. He and Milesy will work together inside and let our runners – Lids, Brando, Bachar and so forth – get a lot of the footy and hit our forwards up, who hopefully will put the score on the board for us. He was happy we finished off well.
* He loved playing forward. It was nice to play deep. He probably needed to start moving a bit more. He was relying more on his strengths. Hopefully, next year he'll get a little bit more of an opportunity again and Dusty will probably have that capacity to play even more inside and onball. Who knows he might spend even more time down there. He loves seeing a Robbie Gray and other midfielders who push forward and kick goals.
* On our midfield?
Milesy was the contested king when he came in. We now have Vlastuin, Ellis, Conca in there with Grigg outside and even Petterd spent time in there. We don’t have the star-studded midfield that everyone spoke about when Dusty was first drafted. Now we have a more complete midfield. The consistency is to the level we want it to be. What we pride ourselves on as a group is contested footy and having Ivan Maric in there driving that is critical.
