With inspirational, two-time Richmond premiership captain Trent Cotchin celebrating his 30th birthday today, here are 30 things about his life, on and off the field . . .
1. He was born on April 7, 1990, grew up in the northern Melbourne suburb of Reservoir, and then spent his later teenage years in Wollert (26 km north of Melbourne).
2. He played junior football with West Preston Lakeside in the Northern Football League, before moving on to play with the Northern Knights in the TAC Cup at 16 years of age.
3. He captained Vic Metro in the 2006 under-16 national championships.
4. In January 2007, he trained with Richmond’s senior playing list, as a member of the AIS/AFL Academy.
5. Tigers star Brett Deledio was his favorite player growing up and there was a poster of ‘Lids’ hanging on Cotchin’s bedroom wall in the family home.
6. He attended secondary school at Parade College and Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School.
7. He was a member of the Vic Metro team that finished runner-up at the 2007 under-18 national championships.
8. He suffered a broken foot while playing with the Northern Knights in the 2007 TAC Cup finals.
9. He was drafted by Richmond with its first pick (No. 2 overall) in the 2007 AFL national draft.
10. He made his AFL debut in Round 8 of the 2008 season against Geelong at the MCG and scored a goal with his first kick.
11. Despite battling an Achilles tendon injury during his debut season, he still managed to finish third in the AFL’s Rising Star award behind Hawthorn’s Cyril Rioli and the winner, Fremantle’s Rhys Palmer.
12. He was appointed to Richmond’s playing leadership group in 2010 and captained the team for the first time in Round 4 that season against Melbourne at the MCG (replacing injured skipper Chris Newman), aged 20 years, 11 days.
13. He continued to struggle with Achilles issues throughout his early years of AFL football, but in the 2011 season he played in all of Richmond’s games (22) for the first time.
14. He won his first Jack Dyer Medal in 2011.
15. He had his best individual season with the Tigers in 2012, winning a second successive Jack Dyer Medal, gaining inaugural All-Australian selection, capturing the AFL Coaches Association’s Player of the Year award and finishing equal runner-up to
Essendon’s Jobe Watson in the Brownlow Medal.
16. He became the Tigers’ youngest full-time captain in more than a century, when appointed to the role on November 23, 2012 at 22 years, seven months of age.
17. He won his third Jack Dyer Medal in 2014.
18. He was awarded the 2012 Brownlow Medal (as was Hawthorn’s Sam Mitchell) late in 2016, when Jobe Watson was ruled ineligible following the suspension he received for his involvement in the Essendon supplements saga.
19. He averages 23.4 disposals per match in his 235-game AFL career.
20. The most disposals he’s had in a match is 39 v Fremantle, Round 9, 2016, Domain Stadium.
21. The most goals he’s kicked in a match is five v St Kilda, Round 15, 2014, Marvel Stadium.
22. He has an overall winning strike-rate in AFL football of 54.8% (122 wins from 224 home and games, seven wins from 11 finals).
23. He has never played in a losing side against Brisbane (a 15-0 record).
24. He has polled 133 Brownlow Medal votes all-up, which places him ninth among current-day players for votes in the game’s most prestigious individual award.
25. He is in 15th place on Richmond’s all-time games list.
26. He is in third place on the Club’s list for most games as captain (155), just five behind Jack Dyer and 13 away from Percy Bentley.
27. He was named the AFL Players Association’s best captain in 2018.
28. He is one of only four dual premiership captains in Tigerland history (an equal record).
29. He holds the record for the most career tackles by a Richmond player (923) and the most in a single season (139 in 2017).
30. He married Brooke Kennedy, the daughter of tough former Footscray defender Rick Kennedy in 2013. They now have three children – daughters Harper and Mackenzie and son Parker.
