Redemption Richmond 2019 [Thursday, March 12 @ 7:30pm]

[wayne]

March 12 on Fox Footy.

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Promo video: https://www.facebook.com/annette.butler.92798/videos/2805018696242854/

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Revealed: How captain Cotch honoured selfless teammate before Grand Final

March 12, 2020
Sarah Olle
FOX SPORTS

Jack Graham’s selfless act to play through injury in the 2019 Preliminary Final will go down in footy folklore.

But there’s another chapter in Graham’s story that only the people inside the four walls of Richmond have had the pleasure, and indeed privilege, of knowing. It all began the night before what would become the Tigers’ second premiership in three years.

Trent Cotchin was the architect, as he so often has been, throughout his club’s rise from laughing stock to the envy of the AFL.

“Cotch actually sent me a message the night before saying, ‘Hey mate, I want you to be down in the rooms before we run out’. I was thinking, ‘Oh all right, I hope he’s not getting me to say something, I’ll be a bit nervous’,” Graham told Fox Footy’s Redemption: Richmond 2019.

“But he actually prepared a guernsey for me. As the boys ran out, I put on a guernsey, which felt pretty special.

“Not many people know about this but it made me feel part of the team and that’s why Cotch is such a great leader and captain because he cares so much about every single player.

“It was pretty nice. I think I may have shed a tear.

“It was a pretty special moment and, as much as I knew I wouldn’t be playing with the boys, I definitely felt a part of it.”

After dislocating his shoulder in the first quarter, Graham ran back on to the MCG turf – his shoulder firmly strapped – to help peg back a 21-point halftime deficit against the Cats in the Preliminary Final.

Doctors thought his season was over as he came to the bench. Four days later it was. Graham was ruled out of the Grand Final.

The 21-year-old midfielder was shattered, but had come to terms with his fate soon after the win against Geelong.

But even though he wouldn’t feature against the Giants, Cotchin was desperate to ensure his teammate was rewarded for his act of bravery.

“I was trying my best to understand what he may or may not have been going through mentally. I just wanted to share as much of the journey or the day – or my day – with him,” Cotchin said.

“He’s a ripper kid. He’s been so impressive since being at the footy club.

“Effectively, I just wanted him to feel as much a part of it as possible.”

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick compelled each player to tribute the Grand Final towards loved ones in their lives, and inscribe those names on a rock prior to the big dance.

It was symbolic of the players’ journey being bigger than themselves, and acknowledgment of the sacrifices countless people had made to catapult the club towards the ultimate success.

Graham was never far away from Cotchin’s conscience.

“I wrote my family and ‘Fridge’ Graham just because of our close relationship through the midfield, and the really challenging way he missed another opportunity to play in a Grand Final,” Cotchin said.

“I think the reality is without him gritting his teeth and getting back on field – which I think the coaching staff requested him not to keep playing because it was so bad – for him to put his hand up, well sort of put his hand up, is pretty inspirational.”

Watch Redemption: Richmond 2019 on Fox Footy, Thursday night at 7.30pm.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-fox-footy-redemption-richmond-2019-trent-cotchin-gives-jack-graham-premiership-guernsey/news-story/67610a5ab55821f089a2d0a5057b0511

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How Marlion Pickett’s unlikely Grand Final debut released the pressure valve on his entire team

March 12, 2020
Sarah Olle
FOX SPORTS

Shane Edwards is hesitant to say it, but he knows it to be true.

Marlion Pickett’s unlikely Grand Final debut in some perverse way released the pressure valve on the rest of the team. It was a circuit breaker. A mini distraction. A narrative that almost overtook the big dance.

And with the team celebrating Pickett, they were allowed to play with a freedom not necessarily associated with a Grand Final.

“It almost felt like it was a Marlion Pickett debut game, it wasn’t a Grand Final because of Marlion’s debut,” Edwards told Fox Footy’s Redemption: Richmond 2019.

“And we were so rapt for him and the way he’s been playing, we were so excited to see him play. We love seeing our debutants, how they come up and handle playing and how we can help them, things like that.

“I’m not going to say it felt like a Grand Final second after Marlion’s debut game, but it definitely took some of the edge off of the game.”

Pickett was parachuted into Richmond’s starting 22 for the Grand Final against GWS, after a shoulder injury to Jack Graham freed up a spot in Damien Hardwick’s side.

While it appeared Jack Ross or Kamdyn McIntosh – the two players that had been pulled from the VFL Grand Final team to be on standby – would get the call up, Hardwick took a chance on the uncapped 27-year-old Pickett.

“It was a risk, absolutely it was,” Hardwick said.

“We thought about it long and hard and picked Marlion Pickett to play his first game. I still can’t believe we did it.

“I remember sitting in the car with (assistant coach) Adam Kingsley and looking at him and going, ‘Do you think Marlion could play next week?’

“Coming off a six-day break, had barely played for us. I’ve just pulled Jack Ross and Kamdyn McIntosh out of VFL Grand Finals so they’re a chance of not playing at all. And that’s where it all started.”

The mid-season draftee was told the good news on the Thursday before the big dance.

“I was doing meditation when one of the coaching staff came in,” Pickett recalled.

“I thought they were looking for a pillow so I flicked him a pillow. Then he asked me to step outside. So I stepped outside and we walked into the coach’s room. Then I’ve seen Dusty and Cotchin sitting there with Dimma so I started scratching my head.

“I sat down and Dimma said, ‘You’re in a our best 24 this week’. But then he also said, ‘You’re in our best 22, you’re playing this week mate. Congrats’.”

There was a certain risk handing a debut to Pickett in the Grand Final.

But after overcoming two years in jail and uprooting his young family that included four kids to the other side of the country, it was hardly the biggest task that had confronted Pickett. And as Edwards alluded to, it had also allowed the rest of the team to relax.

One blind turn, 22 disposals and one goal later, Pickett had arrived. And it was superstar Dustin Martin that had a helping hand in Pickett’s first major – and one of the moments of the match.

“I took the mark and I was walking back and I turned around and I could kind of see him out of the corner of my eye,” Martin said.

“I just gave him a little nod and popped it out there.

“It gives me chills thinking about that moment. When he kicked that goal it was fantastic.”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-marlion-pickett-grand-final-debut-fox-footys-redemption-richmond-2019/news-story/101ae3e495be4e742601ac4330655f24

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Did anyone watch it last night? Thoughts?

[Diocletian]

Thought it was a bit underwhelming and half-arsed tbh, should've been at least an hour - wish they'd do a "Grand Final Recall" show like they did for Hawthorn's flags...

[Knighter]

No show dedicated to Richmond can be crap but this came pretty close. Too many topics in less than 30mins. No substance or depth in any of the topics. Should have included interviews with Geelong and GWS players giving an outside perspective of how we were unbeatable in the finals

[wayne]

Thought it was a bit underwhelming and half-arsed tbh, should've been at least an hour - wish they'd do a "Grand Final Recall" show like they did for Hawthorn's flags...

Same thoughts. Very rushed, didn't make anything of the limping to the bye round outside the 8, then going on a 12 game streak.

They could have made the Eagles clash into a lot more (down early, fight back, best game of the year).

They didn't even mention the prelim final.

[georgies31]

Is it online anywhere to watch.