Tigers had ‘heads in their bums’: CotchinJay Clark
Herald Sun
22 August 2016RICHMOND captain Trent Cotchin has delivered a savage assessment of the Tigers’ nine-point loss to St Kilda on Saturday, describing their performance as “insipid”.
The Tigers laid only 18 tackles in the first half and a season-low 44 for the game.
Cotchin said he was feeling “pretty flat and negative” after the loss and fired a broadside at some of his teammates.
“To come out the way we did and play — it sort of looked a lot of our players had their heads in their bums — so that’s really embarrassing from a team point of view,” Cotchin said on Fox Footy.
“From the captain down we need to be better than that.”
Richmond scored 44 points for the match, the third time in five weeks they have failed to hit the 50-point mark.
Cotchin said there was a lot of encouraging young talent at the club but believed some of the Tigers’ senior players could be more consistent.
He said it was important to finish the season off strongly against the Swans on Saturday at the MCG.
“We challenged late but the reality is the game was done and they (Saints) were far better,” he said.
“We still need to get better, we are miles off it at this stage.
“We have some really impressive young guys, our senior players are playing good footy buts it’s inconsistent footy and that’s the challenge for our group.
“If we want to be a team that takes big steps forward next year, then we need to play really well against outstanding opposition next week in Sydney.”
Coach Damien Hardwick admitted the “intensity and effort was off” against St Kilda and demanded a lift at the main change.
“We spoke to them at half-time and were pretty firm that we needed to respond and get our game up and going,” Hardwick said.
“It is a long season, especially with some sides playing for not much now … but we still expect better effort.”
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