Footy Classified

[(•))(©™]

Form dropped right off when he did the Age interview, stating he would retire in his 20's after winning a flag.

His heart's not in it.

Something happened......

Why would he take the captaincy then?

So he can tell his kids he was captain??

[bojangles17]

It's obvious Cotchin's output is down on last season, is he carrying an injury?

Cotch hasn't been fully right since the Freo game when a Docker went across his knee.

According to Cotch it's healed and is at 100%

If you cross the line and play you're saying you are "100%" but that doesn't mean players aren't carrying injuries or at least niggles.

Cotch's disposal output in the first 4 rounds was 33, 31, 36 & 27. It's been down since the Freo game in round 5 when he copped that knee injury.

http://finalsiren.com/PlayerStats.asp?PlayerID=1845

Thats exactly how i saw it , must be more than a coincidence that in R5 he suffered what looked at the time to be a season ending injury and has been no more than 80% since

[mightytiges]

It's obvious Cotchin's output is down on last season, is he carrying an injury?

Cotch hasn't been fully right since the Freo game when a Docker went across his knee.

According to Cotch it's healed and is at 100%

If you cross the line and play you're saying you are "100%" but that doesn't mean players aren't carrying injuries or at least niggles.

Cotch's disposal output in the first 4 rounds was 33, 31, 36 & 27. It's been down since the Freo game in round 5 when he copped that knee injury.

http://finalsiren.com/PlayerStats.asp?PlayerID=1845

Thats exactly how i saw it , must be more than a coincidence that in R5 he suffered what looked at the time to be a season ending injury and has been no more than 80% since

Yep it's a big 'coincidence'. I would doubt Cotch would say he was carrying an injury/niggle anyway even if he was.

Remember when Jack looked like he was playing injured (in 2011 IIRC) when he could hardly fly for marks. The Club denied he was playing injured and said Jack just had to learn to play through niggles like any other footballer.

[TigerLand]

It's obvious Cotchin's output is down on last season, is he carrying an injury?

Cotch hasn't been fully right since the Freo game when a Docker went across his knee.

Agree 100%. Did anyone pick up Cotch hurting his leg in the 4th qtr? He was down for a little bit, then got up hunched over and held his knee for a while. The ball came his way and he didn't move at all just stood and couldn't put weight on his knee. He walked it off and limped off the ground.

He came back on and looked OK but he's definitely carrying something.

In his press conference today he said he isn't carrying anything and not sure why people keep asking it.

[TigerLand]

Cotch's disposal output in the first 4 rounds was 33, 31, 36 & 27. It's been down since the Freo game in round 5 when he copped that knee injury.

http://finalsiren.com/PlayerStats.asp?PlayerID=1845

Although I agree about the knee problem (should never played against Geelong  ) I reckon his numbers in the first 4 rounds only show he got a lot of the ball. They don't necessarily show how poor his disposal was at times eg the dinkly little chip passes to team mates under pressure, etc

Personally and I've said it before I think he is struggling with the captainancy, that is trying too hard to be captain, the leader and it is effecting his form. He should just play like he did last year, no need to change anything on field IMHO

There is a big difference though, being a stand in captain or a vice captain compared to being the captain of a club, arguably the 2nd biggest in the AFL and one of 60,000 starving members.

He's doing a stack of media and the pressure intensifies. He's also dealing with younger guys coming through and most likely mentoring them as well which is another burden.

Would be very few players who have been given the captaincy and have been dominant in their first year. There is a lot to adjust too.

[Hellenic Tiger]

He is the playing face of a club that has not made finals in 12 years.Furthermore he is just a 22 year old kid who finished 2nd in the Brownlow with 26 votes and is captain of a huge Melbourne club.
If he is not carrying an injury I expect that if we beat GC this week and win one of Freo, Sydney or Haw meaning we are virtually in finals his August to get us over the line will be supreme. It's as if he is playing too cautiously which has hindered him no end.


His last 2-3 games he has been showing signs of improved form and I expect that to continue. The script is perfect for him to have a big one this weekend and have a captains game that gets his side over the line. About time in 2013 too.

[WilliamPowell]

There is a big difference though, being a stand in captain or a vice captain compared to being the captain of a club, arguably the 2nd biggest in the AFL and one of 60,000 starving members.

He's doing a stack of media and the pressure intensifies. He's also dealing with younger guys coming through and most likely mentoring them as well which is another burden.

Would be very few players who have been given the captaincy and have been dominant in their first year. There is a lot to adjust too.

All fair points but the reason he was made captain at such a young age was because of the way he played. His actions on the field personifies leadership so IMHO he doesn't/didn't need to change the way he played/plays.

I just think he is trying too hard to do all the things you speak of on the field when he doesn't need to. His natural ability and natural leadership ensures he does it, doesn't need to try to do it or increase the level of it

As for the off field stuff he has actually said he enjoys it so I don't think that has had much of an impact

As for other young captain of a similar age who have continued to dominate after ei made captain - Joel Selwood and before that Wayne Carey spring to mind. Selwood has not change the way he plays, the way plays is what leads his team mates

[tdy]

Why are we winning more this year then, with Cotch down on form and Lids getting the hard tag and waving the white flag too easily (to paraphrase Lyon)?

Is it just an easy draw we've had?

[bojangles17]

He is the playing face of a club that has not made finals in 12 years.Furthermore he is just a 22 year old kid who finished 2nd in the Brownlow with 26 votes and is captain of a huge Melbourne club.
If he is not carrying an injury I expect that if we beat GC this week and win one of Freo, Sydney or Haw meaning we are virtually in finals his August to get us over the line will be supreme. It's as if he is playing too cautiously which has hindered him no end.


His last 2-3 games he has been showing signs of improved form and I expect that to continue. The script is perfect for him to have a big one this weekend and have a captains game that gets his side over the line. About time in 2013 too.

Agree, his last 2 games have been a few shades better than what was dished up the previous month

[one-eyed]

Hardly any Richmond talk so we must have won on the weekend.

Only the obligatory Good Call/Bad Call question - "Was the Cairns deal the worst decision Brendon Gale has made so far as Richmond CEO?". Caro said Benny Gale has been great for Richmond and done a number of good things but the Cairns deal was a shocker. She also claimed Dimma said at the end of the game something like "Thank god we don't have to come up here anymore".

The only other thing about Richmond was when they put up a graphic about Geelong having 71 inside forward 50 tackles in their past 3 games. We along with Sydney were equal 2nd over the past 3 weeks with 41 inside forward 50 tackles.

[gerkin greg]

So it was Gale's fault Dimma and the players couldn't get past a team of 18 year olds two years in a row? lmfao

What a bunch of worthless clueless tossers

Should have been an easy 12 points and 1.5 mill in the kitty – one of Gale's better decisions FFS

[Tigger]

In all honesty - what did a couple of extra wins matter in the past 2 years?  We may not have picked up Ellis or Vlastuin if we had of won.

In fact, I think that the club learned more out of last year's loss (and the repeat performance resulting in the Freo loss this year) than they would have out of a meaningless win.

[Smokey]

In all honesty - what did a couple of extra wins matter in the past 2 years?  We may not have picked up Ellis or Vlastuin if we had of won.

In fact, I think that the club learned more out of last year's loss (and the repeat performance resulting in the Freo loss this year) than they would have out of a meaningless win.

x 2

[tigs2011]

So it was Gale's fault Dimma and the players couldn't get past a team of 18 year olds two years in a row? lmfao

What a bunch of worthless clueless tossers

Should have been an easy 12 points and 1.5 mill in the kitty – one of Gale's better decisions FFS

Well said.

Never should have lost those games and 1.5 mill (2 mill including Darwin) has set our club up to be a power house of the competition. If the muppets on the field the last 2 years had won the games they'd be calling Gale a genius for getting 2 million for 4 wins. 

[cub]

In all honesty - what did a couple of extra wins matter in the past 2 years?  We may not have picked up Ellis or Vlastuin if we had of won.

In fact, I think that the club learned more out of last year's loss (and the repeat performance resulting in the Freo loss this year) than they would have out of a meaningless win.

x 2

X3

The footy tried to wreck the first 2 trips but all in all I will miss going up for a mid year break.