Richmond captain Trent Cotchin provides ‘Roar Vision’ with an assessment of his 2016 season.
Team’s form all that matters
“From an individual point of view, (it was) relatively consistent. There were games that I was disappointed in, and games that I was pretty happy with. But the way I rate my own individual performance is based on the team’s success, and that obviously wasn’t up to scratch.”
Changing midfield role
“As a midfielder, there are so many strings that are a big part of the game now. It’s forever evolving, forever changing. But I think my initial pressure around the ball, and off-ball stuff, was probably as good as it’s been in my career. Obviously, coming in as a youngster, a lot of your focus is on trying to get the footy, whereas this season it was more about structure off the ball from a defensive point of view. And now, the challenge for me is to continue driving that for our midfield group.”
Emerging Tiger talent
“I think the good thing was we blooded some real talent this year. A lot of young guys got plenty of opportunities. And there were guys that came in, played, played okay, went back, and they continued to play at a really high standard at the VFL level . . . In the past, that hasn’t quite been there for us as a group. You speak about consistency, and if you’re ticking off everything you need to do at VFL level, and then coming in and performing a role for us at AFL level, that’s really important for our development.”
Impressive VFL Tigers
“I know that I played AFL all year, but the most impressive thing for me was the way the VFL team finished the year off. And it’s a credit to the way the coaches motivated the players. We had someone like Ivan (Maric), who has played a lot of senior footy . . . motivating him, to get the best out of himself. And it’s a credit to Ivan and the players around him as well. But they were all striving for the same goal, which is something we take a lot out of.”
Taking the next step
“There were some great signs. We’re just looking for guys to really take a big next step over the pre-season. Obviously, there’s a lot of water to go under that bridge, and we need to challenge each other from within . . . I think we’re just at a point, where we’ve got a good balance of young players . . . Naturally, young players come in and are just happy to get a game. But we just need to find the hunger to drive, not only yourself as an individual, but each other to get better. And that’s what I’ll be challenging the group, from day one, even across the off-season . . . What are you doing to make sure you take big steps forward? Because if you don’t, you fall behind, whether that’s an individual or a team point of view. And, on the back of a disappointing year, we need to take some big steps forward.”
