Richmond surprise has a ball
Jon Pierik | May 18, 2008 12:00am
TRENT Cotchin was warming up to play for Coburg in the VFL curtain-raiser at the MCG yesterday when he was given an unexpected tap on the shoulder.
Suddenly, he was to make his AFL debut a few hours later against Geelong at the same venue.
But the 18-year-old's unconventional build-up to his first senior game did not end there.
The second pick, behind Carlton's Matthew Kreuzer, in last year's national draft was forced to make a mad dash from the MCG to Tiger headquarters at Punt Rd to wolf down some jam sandwiches as he had not come prepared with his lunch.
The Tigers knew they had missed a potential public relations bonanza as greater awareness of Cotchin's debut might have attracted more than the 37,275 to the ground, but coach Terry Wallace did not care.
"As we said, it was a last-minute decision," Wallace said.
"It's very difficult to always be the marketing tool of the club. Sometimes you have to be the footy entity of the club."
On that front, Wallace, and Cotchin, had much to be proud of after the former Northern Knight finished with 16 possessions and two goals.
"I wasn't too nervous before the game. Once you get out there it's pretty exciting," Cotchin said.
"Once you get into it, you're just playing another match of footy - a bit quicker."
Starting on the half-forward line, Cotchin was the centre of attention in only the third minute of the match when he swooped on a loose ball that spilled from a pack and dribbled through a goal with his first kick.
There could have been few better ways to launch a career and the goal lifted the confidence of Cotchin and the Tigers.
"That was my job, to crumb, get front and centre, and take the opportunity. It was good, all the boys got around," Cotchin said.
If that was not enough, three minutes later Cotchin's clever tap-on 15m from goal allowed Brett Deledio to run on and soccer through the Tigers' second goal.
As the afternoon progressed, Cotchin also spent time on the ball in what was an impressive debut full of poise against a side he had passionately supported as a junior.
There was only one blemish - a botched shot at goal from 3m out when he tried to snap the ball through rather than use a simple drop punt.
"The boys just said don't worry," Cotchin said.
Indeed, Cotchin is happy to be running around now after dealing with foot stress fractures and an achilles tendon over summer.
Wallace said Cotchin - and the Tigers - had a lot to look forward to.
"He has only had four weeks of footy and didn't really have a pre-season," Wallace said.
"The thing that he is not handling 100 per cent at the moment is the run and spread of the game because he just doesn't have the legs at the moment.
"The thing that he has been really good at - his ball use - has been fantastic at VFL level and certainly his stoppage work has been fantastic."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,23715589-19742,00.html
