Richmond captaincy: It doesn’t matter who leads the Tigers as long as they can inspire and excite, writes Jon RalphJon Ralph
Herald Sun
March 5, 2016Trent Cotchin: Jack Riewoldt is 'growing as a leader'
JACK Riewoldt should captain Richmond.
If you say it enough times the football public begins to accept it as fact.
The shock waves from Richmond’s catastrophic finals exit against North Melbourne are being felt in all areas, none more so than at the very top.
Should Damien Hardwick get a new contract without a finals win, and why did the Tigers miss out on Adam Treloar?
Legitimate questions without easy answers.
But the question that has swirled around Punt Rd with real persistence is who should actually captain the club.
Colleague Mark Robinson framed the debate like this in October, arguing Richmond “must consider replacing Trent Cotchin as captain”.
He put up Jack Riewoldt as the likely replacement, with footy analyst and former Tigers assistant David King even stronger on Saturday.
As Jack Riewoldt put on a clinic — against no less than Hawthorn finals hero James Frawley — King was adamant the wrong man was in the job.
“He could captain Richmond,” said Fox Footy’s King, who has queried Cotchin’s leadership for 18 months now.
“In my eyes he’s a better leader than Cotchin. He hasn’t stopped working.
“And when a leader does this in a pre-season game, it sets the standards for players around him.”
All of it is great fodder for angry Tigers fans mulling another wasted season, especially given Cotchin clearly is not the finished product as skipper.
And yet all of it ignores one absolutely critical fact.
When the Tigers quietly released their five-man leadership group in January, for the third year running Riewoldt was not in it.
So when Richmond’s own players and coaches worked on the process to judge their best candidates, Riewoldt wasn’t in the picture.
Instead star defender Alex Rance and midfielder Shane Edwards were elevated into a group that also contains Cotchin, Brett Deledio and Ivan Maric.
If Cotchin’s flaws were seen as fatal it would be smooth mover Deledio or bull-at-a-gate Rance or heart-and-soul ruckman Maric more likely to step up.
The point is not to criticise Riewoldt, whose finest hour might have been in that final with four goals straight when he just had to stand up and fight.
It is to say the only way Richmond will achieve anything is if it assembles a core group of eight to ten elite leaders, rather than bickers about who leads that group.
It doesn’t matter if Cotchin or Riewoldt lead Richmond as long as both inspire and excite and collectively haul their teammates to greatness.
At Hawthorn Sam Mitchell was effectively deposed as captain soon after a premiership win, Jordan Lewis might never be captain, and Josh Gibson and Jarryd Roughead certainly won’t be.
And yet in every corner of the ground Hawthorn has them as on-field coaches, providing leadership, guidance, tactical nous and inspiration through their play.
Only when Richmond’s leaders across the ground instantly problem-solve and react to potential crisis will finals catastrophes turn into breakthrough wins.
Cotchin nine-possession game in that final was the greatest stinker of his career.
Yet should he have won all 34 of the contested possessions the Tigers were beaten by, as Edwards (eight touches), Brandon Ellis (10), Deledio (17) and a host of Richmond players were MIA?
King, who served under one of the great leaders in Wayne Carey, told the Herald Sun yesterday he didn’t care that Riewoldt was outside the 2016 leadership group.
“I am not worried about the leadership group, that’s a nonsense. I see Jack’s performance in big games, that’s what leadership is, and from the minute one game finishes to the next game starts, Jack is as good as anyone else.
“He can make the game fun, get around guys, be popular, and still challenge players.
“He is a guy that can gather the group. I don’t find Trent is a gatherer of men. He is probably still Richmond’s best player, but there has doesn’t have to be blood attached — the transition can be smooth as well as it’s handled well by Jack and Cotch.”
The hope is that recruits Jacob Townsend and Andrew Moore can hand Cotchin the inside assistance Shane Tuck and Daniel Jackson did in 2012, a season that might eventually see him become a Brownlow Medallist.
Since that year he has gradually eased from AFL golden child to the verge of whipping boy, much of it for his short-chipping game.
The AFL is all about handling the heat — not just in September but every single year when you must prove why you deserve your title all over again.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/richmond-captaincy-it-doesnt-matter-who-leads-the-tigers-as-long-as-they-can-inspire-and-excite-writes-jon-ralph/news-story/63e920e01a5ac5a4d6fd24a89690c42b
