Season in review: Trent CotchinAFL media
9 Oct 2018Richmond captain Trent Cotchin provides an assessment of the team’s, and his, 2018 season.
The mighty Tiger Army“A massive thankyou to our supporters, our members. Our preliminary final didn’t quite end the way we wanted it to, but to have the support there – not just in that game, but throughout the season – rattling the MCG and the like, is always amazing. And from a captain’s point of view, knowing how much the boys love and crave it, it’s much appreciated.”
The post-preliminary message“After the game, it was a really difficult time . . . you’re obviously disappointed with the result. But the main message for our whole group, and our whole organisation, was that one game won’t define us. We had an incredible year, won a lot of games, and we felt we grew a lot as well, from 2017. So our messaging was that while this will feel like a dark time, and it is a dark time to miss out on another opportunity to challenge for a flag, it’s from those times that come your greatest growth and your greatest lessons. So you need to learn and you need to get better. That’s the AFL environment, and if you don’t, you get left behind. So we’ll have some time away, prepare ourselves as best we can for a big pre-season, and then another challenge through 2019.”
Emerging young Tiger talent“You would think that there wasn’t going to be too many opportunities that popped up or presented themselves, coming into a team that won the premiership in 2017. But the guys that did get a chance, really grabbed it with both hands. ‘Higgo’ (Jack Higgins) played the majority of the year, and had you have asked me during the pre-season was he going to be such an integral part of our (senior) 22, at that stage I probably would have really doubted that. But the opportunity presented itself for him and he grabbed it with both hands. He was really impressive throughout the finals series as well, which is a credit to such a young guy. His challenge will be to improve other facets of his game in 2019, and we’re excited about that. ‘Garthy’ (Ryan Garthwaite) probably plays in the majority of the 17 other clubs’ backlines for the whole year. (Liam) Baker showed glimpses of real excitement . . . I think the thing that I was most proud of, is that guys came in and played their roles, which is what’s expected of them, but they did it to a really great level.”
Individual season appraisal“It’s an interesting one. I think as I get older, I don’t necessarily value dominating games of footy in the sense of possessions and goals and so forth. I think I started the year pretty well, I had a slow middle part of the year, and finished off okay. I like to value my impact on the team based on the growth of other guys, and I feel like people around me grew again. I think both ‘Rancey’ (Alex Rance) and Jack (Rieowldt) had good years as vice-captains, but also from their individual talents’ point of view. And our younger players, that are the future of the footy club, I feel grew again, on-field, but also off-field. They really started to take control of our culture, our environment, and that makes me really proud.”
Individual areas of improvement“I probably haven’t had a moment to really reflect on 2018, or the last couple of years. It’ll be based around my leadership, but also impacting games in other aspects, I suppose. I’d like to think I have the ability to go forward and impact games, but probably didn’t get the opportunity to do that as much as I would have liked this season.”
AFL captain of the year accolade“It’s a funny one for me because as I said in my speech, the award doesn’t entirely represent me. I feel like it’s a great reflection of our club, our culture, the players that I have around me, and the staff as well. To have a really proud and a bold organisation, you need great people in it . . . It’s a whole club effort, and while I get the reward of being named as the players’ captain of the year, which I’m really proud of, and it is an honour, it’s a whole club award in my eyes, even though I get to keep it.”
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2018-10-08/season-in-review-trent-cotchin
