It speaks volumes for Trent Cotchin’s sheer football talent that he could have, in his own words, an “up and down” 2013, yet still top the rankings for the Richmond team in several key on-field categories, poll 19 Brownlow Medal votes, and secure another top-five placing in the Jack Dyer Medal.                         

Cotchin, in his first year as the Tigers’ captain, averaged 26 disposals per match in the 22 games he played.

He was ranked No. 1 at the Club for total disposals (571), No. 1 for contested possessions (259), No. 1 for total clearances (118), No. 1 for centre clearances (56) and No. 4 for inside-50s (79).

But the star midfielder, who was coming off back-to-back Jack Dyer Medals in 2011-12, and an equal-runner-up finish in the 2012 Brownlow Medal, felt his 2013 season was patchy.

 “It probably wasn’t quite as consistent as last year,” he said. 

“There were stages through the season where I wasn’t quite satisfied with the impact I was having on games. 

“But I think this year my focus changed from how I was impacting it performance-wise, to how I was impacting it leadership-wise.

“I had a massive learning year and improved as the season went on . . .

“There were a lot of areas that I needed to improve on and I had to fast-track my development to benefit the team and myself.”

“I felt there were times during the year where my leadership was challenged. That’s when you have to stand up and make sure that you do something about it.

“I think with such a young group it’s important that you just make a call, stick with it, and try to drag as many guys along with you at the same time . . .”

Notwithstanding Richmond’s disappointing loss to Carlton in the elimination final, Cotchin took plenty of positives out of the Tigers’ season.

“We saw a lot of our areas develop as a group.  Our defensive team was fantastic, our midfield showed a lot of depth throughout the year, and our forward line started to work really well as a group,” he said.

“I think the exciting thing for us is we’ve got so much depth now.”

“Our challenge is to bring people in that further bolster that depth, but also develop our younger guys, to make sure that there’s always pressure on spots. That’s going to create a healthy culture.”

Having now had a brief taste of the big-time September action, Cotchin is craving more finals with the Tigers.

“Finals footy was an experience.  It didn’t end in the way we wanted it to, but the energy and excitement that we felt, even just in the warm-up, from our supporters, was fantastic,” he said.

“Hopefully, it’s an experience that only helps us and, as ‘Dimma’ (Damien Hardwick) has mentioned since, we want to be consistent finals performers and make sure that we’re winning those games of footy because they’re the most important for the year.

 “That was a big step for us to participate in finals, but now it’s time to actually challenge in them.

“There’s certainly going to be that burning hole that we let an opportunity slip.  That definitely will get me through a number of the tough sessions that are going to happen over the pre-season . . .”

“I’m still gutted now, and I’m sure I’ll be gutted throughout the whole pre-season asking the question of what if?

“But it’s done, and we’ve got to look forward and make sure that it doesn’t happen again next year.”