Richmond triple premiership captain Trent Cotchin has called time on his illustrious AFL career as more change sweeps through Punt Road.
Two years after ending his reign as arguably the Tigers’ greatest captain, the tough midfielder reached his milestone 300th game this season.
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But he will soon bring the curtain down after dropping in and out of a Richmond side in flux after his premiership coach Damien Hardwick left the club earlier this year.
“I am going to miss with all my heart the relationships, memories and experiences I have had these past 305 games,” Cotchin said.
“I accept reality and that my chapter has come to an end. My body is somewhat slowing down and is older than it once was.”
Cotchin took over as skipper in just his fifth season, when he was just 22, and helped end a decade-long finals drought in 2013, only to lose elimination finals in three straight years.
The knockout losses took their toll and Richmond missed the finals altogether in 2016 but club heavyweights stuck by Hardwick and Cotchin.
That trust was vindicated when the pair lifted the premiership cup in 2017 – the club’s first flag since 1980.
The Tigers fell short of the grand final the following year, despite winning the minor premiership, but bounced back to win legacy-sealing grand finals in 2019 and 2020.
And where a Brownlow Medal might be the crowning achievement of most careers Cotchin’s greatest feats surround his leadership through Richmond’s dynasty.
“I found my life purpose at Richmond,” Cotchin said.
“I look to the future with nothing but excitement, adventure, and opportunity, because of what I found here at Richmond and what Richmond people taught me.
“Finding out that creating an environment to help other realise and fulfill their potential not only inspired me but helped me to overcome my own fears.
“I found the move from ‘I’ to ‘we’ and that to be interested not interesting was so much more fun. I learned the power to dream big at Richmond, to say why not me. Why not us? And why not now.
“I have always given my best and left no stone unturned, in my dad’s words – I have strived to make every post a winner.”
The No.2 draft pick in 2007, Cotchin won the first of three club best-and-fairest awards in 2011.
His career reached a new peak the following year when he made the All Australian team and, after Jobe Watson was stripped of his win, shared the Brownlow Medal with Hawthorn great Sam Mitchell.
Cotchin’s game changed over the years – particularly as his great mate Dustin Martin flourished as Richmond’s creative force – but the bullocking midfielder always set the tone for the Tigers.
He is likely to play his last game against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval in Round 24, with Richmond needing to win all three of their final games and benefit from other results to reach the finals.
It remains unclear if star forward Jack Riewoldt, 34, will bow out alongside Cotchin.
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