Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has declared that former Tigers captain Trent Cotchin is in peak condition and ready to fire in season 2022.

Cotchin stepped down from the captaincy at the end of last season after nine years in the role, which included the Club’s 2017, 2019 and 2020 premierships, making him the longest-serving and most successful skipper in Tigerland history.

The 31-year-old (he turns 32 on April 7) veteran of 268 games has given himself the best possible chance of still having a key on-field impact for the Tigers with his solid preparation throughout the pre-season period.

“He’s had the best pre-season since I’ve been at the Club,” Hardwick said on the first episode of the Talking Tigers podcast for 2022.

“He’s done more work than he’s ever done before, he looks as fit as he’s ever been. So, I’m expecting him to have a very, very good year.

“And we started to see that in the first half on the weekend (against Hawthorn in Devonport).

“He was very clean, physical, powerful – all the things we love about Trent as a player . . .

Hardwick believes Cotchin will benefit from no longer being the team’s captain.

“He can just really concentrate on his own game. And I think when you get a little bit older it probably lends itself a little bit more to that. You’ve got to concentrate hard on getting your body right, week in, week out,” he said.

“He’ll still have an enormous influence on our club, but he can step back from those day-to-day leadership issues that Dylan (Grimes) and “Nank” (Toby) Nankervis will now take over.”