Richmond captain Trent Cotchin has outlined the gripping tension of the dramatic final moments in Saturday night’s big clash with Adelaide at Adelaide Oval.
With less than a minute left on the clock, the Tigers forced the ball forward, where Dustin Martin, in trademark style, outbodied his Crows’ opponent, Ricky Henderson in a critical one-on-one contest, gathered the ball, steadied, and rammed it through for the match-sealing goal.
“Benny Lennon kicked it inside 50, and I almost half prayed that ‘Dusty’ won the contest and went back and kicked a goal,” Cotchin said on 3AW.
“I was spewing that he didn’t take the mark, but I suppose it ran over the back and there was two-on-one anyway (Ricky Petterd being the other Tiger near goal), so it looked pretty certain.
“It was a sigh of relief, certainly, from my point of view, but exciting.”
Cotchin wasn’t surprised it was Martin, who again stepped up in the team’s moment of need.
“Dusty’s a fantastic player. He’s had an awesome year, from an individual point of view, but what he’s done for our team . . . I think he was one of the guys that really stood up when our backs were against the wall, and he’s been the most consistent performer,” Cotchin said.
“So, credit to him. He’s backed up his form from last year and carried it through.
“Hopefully, he finishes off the season on a really high note.”
Cotchin, himself, was superb in the frenetic final term, picking up eight disposals (the most by any player on the ground), and showing inspirational leadership.
“A lot of the work we’ve been doing with regards to leadership on-field, and so forth, is just playing your role at that given time,” he said.
“So, whether that was me, inside, winning contested footy, or ‘Chappy’ (Troy Chaplin) taking that intercept mark and going back and having the composure to switch the play and hold on to the footy a bit longer, and then we end up with another goal.
“I mean, I think every individual had a moment in that last quarter, where they had to stand tall and, luckily, in the last few minutes, we probably had more of them than Adelaide . . .
“We have matured as a group. Obviously, everyone’s referred to our start to the year as disappointing, and we well and truly agree with that.
“But the reality is a lot of our guys have grown into their roles, and it’s exciting.
“We love playing footy, and we love winning. There’s nothing better.”
Notwithstanding the Tigers’ run of seven successive wins, and the fact they are now out of the top eight on percentage only, Cotchin insists they won’t be allowing their thoughts to stray to September action.
“It’s hard not to get caught up with how much talk there is around you, but we’ve done a lot of work, certainly over my last two or three years at the Club, with regards to just living in the moment,” he said.
“The old saying is that you have to take it week-by-week, but it’s almost down to play-by-play, quarter-by-quarter sort of stuff these days. And, if you’re not consistently performing, even on the training track, you’re going to let yourself down at some stage, which will probably let the team down . . .
“We’re obviously in pretty good form, but the reality is we’ve got another challenging game next Sunday against the Saints, who were beaten pretty convincingly yesterday (Saturday) and will be on the hunt, as Brisbane did this week (beating Collingwood after losing to Adelaide in the previous round by more than 100 points).”
