Richmond captain Trent Cotchin has spoken of the impact that improved leadership had on the Tigers’ dramatic form reversal during the second half of the 2014 season.

With Richmond’s season teetering back in June, the players took on added responsibility, in a determined bid to turn the situation around.

A key part of that involved forthright discussions about playing leadership issues.

“They (the playing group) were thriving on us being more challenging as a leadership group to our core group,” Cotchin told Richmond great Matthew Richardson in the first of a two-part ‘Roar Vision’ post-season exclusive interview.

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“Relationships are always important.  We have really good relationships, but it was probably more based around friendship, rather than wanting guys to absolutely get the best out of themselves.

“We just became harder on each other in the leadership group, and that eventuated out into our younger players.

“The culture we’re trying to drive now is that it doesn’t matter who you are, or how long you’ve been in the system for, if you see something you act on it.

“The reality is we’re all on the same page, we’re striving for the same goal, and we want to make sure we get there as quickly as possible.”

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Cotchin also revealed how beneficial the open dialogue with the playing group had been in terms of his captaincy development.

“I was thriving for the feedback.  I wanted to be in front of the group, where they had an opportunity to tell me exactly how they were feeling,” he said.

“It was positive for me.  I was probably trying to be the perfect leader, whereas the reality is you’re voted in by your peers because they think you have something to offer.

“I just had to go back to being my natural self, and probably lead more based on instinct.

“I think I was respected, but the way I feel with my relationships now is there’s more respect there from the playing group.”