Richmond great Matthew Richardson has paid tribute to Trent Cotchin on the eve of the inspirational dual Tigers premiership skipper becoming the captaincy games’ record-holder at the Club.

Cotchin will surpass Percy Bentley’s 168 games as Richmond’s captain in Friday night’s semi-final against St Kilda at Metricon Stadium.

Richardson, who was in the twilight of his illustrious career at Tigerland when Cotchin arrived, as the Club’s first pick (No. 2 overall) from the 2007 AFL national draft, was full of praise for him on this week’s edition of the Club’s podcast, ‘Talking Tigers’. 

“You’ve got to evolve along the way and there’s no doubt Trent has done that . . . gone away and really worked hard on his leadership. And he’s getting the reward now, obviously, with the success that Richmond have had,” Richardson said.

“But if I looked at him when he came in, I’m not surprised that he’s become a really good leader because he was mature beyond his years . . .

“Even as a 17-year-old, when he first came down to Punt Road and trained under the Academy system, you could see he was a mature guy for his age.

“And the whole footy side of things, you could see from day one he had all of the attributes and the right qualities as a player – hard at it, committed, puts his body on the line.

“He’s developed as a leader in other ways, but the way he plays, he was always that sort of player. So not surprised at all that he’s done what he’s done . . .

“I know you’ve got to be a great leader in other ways now, and there’s so much involved in being a good leader. But for me, I think first and foremost as a captain on game day, you’ve got to lead by example. And he’s always done that.

“The way he plays, he always put his head over it, and I think that’s still No. 1.

“When you see your captain doing that, it makes you . . . you’ve got to do the same thing.

“So well done to ‘Cotch’.”