Trent Cotchin - The Future of Tigerland

Trent Cotchin to me is how i would want my junior players model themselves on for their development.

 

Trent epitimises the hard work ethic and using your footy brain rather than getting caught up as a midfielder that just tags other good players out.

His work rate and team ethic is one i haven't seen at Richmond for some time. I remember one game i watched with my son, Trent was off the half back and ran past another player to receive a handball, he then short passed it across half back and continued to run past and receive another handball, he handballed it up to another player whilst they manouvered around the opposition.

Any other player would have stopped there and caught their breath, not Trent Cotchin, he continued to the opposite wing and created space to then receive the ball back and eventually deliver into the forward line for the new Coleman medalist Jack Riewoldt to get onto.

That one passage of play is what caught my eye the most about Trent and why i have such a huge respect for him, his effort across that half back is something he does game in game out, not just in that area but all over the ground.

Funny the games he has off form and not as much of an impact he still manages 30 touches...

Richmond right now are on the cusp of breaking the finals drought, its no wonder supporters like myself are so passionate and excited for the future and the present.

This year we missed by just a few games, yet i count atleast 6-8 games we lost by under 2 goals, atleast 4-6 of those were in last few minutes...

We have the players to really break this drought and make a real impact on our future, just one finals appearance will do so much for this club, not just to finally taste finals, this will catapult us into a sense of what we've been yearning for... This isn't just for the players, i'm talking the club in general, supporters, administration, players etc..

Players like Trent are what Finals & Brownlow dreams are made of, he thoroughly deserved his Richmond Best & Fairest and I can see he will win many more in the years to come, Get around him too for Brownlow this year, if he doesn't win it like i think he will, it will come in the next few years.

Should Trent take over the Captaincy from Chris Newman who just recently announced he is stepping down from the captains role, Absolutely, Trent is the ideal captain, yes concerns are his age only currently being 22, however he is far more mature in his years than most give credit for. Everytime he enters the training grounds or the ground on gameday he enters with team in mind, not individual growth, team.


I can't wait to watch him over the next ten years as he is what will drive our success.

(Photos courtesy of Herald Sun & The Age)

Junior Footy

As you may have read from an earlier blog i'm a football coach of an Under 9's football team.

Great job and i do enjoy it, my son plays so i get the best of both worlds.

As much as it is a great thing coaching man it has its downsides, i won't name names and stuff or go into the club i'm from as i'm sure i'd get into trouble.

One thing that erks me and i know associations around the place are trying to stamp this out is what we're here for.

As far as i'm concerned, my job is to develop, encourage and give everyone a fair go. Lets look at this again:

Develop: Each and every child needs development, regardless of skill level.

Encourage: Every player needs encouragement, good morale means players keep coming back wanting to play.

Fair go: We're not playing for sheep stations, at Under 9 level, gametime and development should be equal.

Funny as i say the above and believe i am doing the above to the best of my ability, one of the parents of one of our best players believes at this age group we should be playing the best and only the best, others should be on the bench...

I have a golden rule in under 9's, doesn't matter who you are you have equal bench ownership. It's only Under 9's, we don't see premiership points or finals until Under 11's, so for now it should be all about development and encouraging players to want to play this great game.

So this mornings game I've set up my team, staggered most of the best throughout the field so to try and spread as best we can and encourage more to get involved. I try to have atleast one of the best off on the bench each quarter to try and not be too undermanned.

One of the dads comes up and questions why his son is on the best and starts harping on about why the best only should be fielded... Wow, at Under 9's level we have parents putting all of their eggs and hopes on an 8 year old boy. Yes he is a good player but you know what, if half the time he turned up to football training and gameday, listen to the coach and conform into our TEAM aspect we are trying to encourage, as well as listen to our criticism and advice rather than the parents only advice then we may have a great little player.

Instead I have a player who distances himself away from the group, gets over worked by the dad who makes him train equivilent of a SANFL or higher player, yet wonders why the boy often looks flat and not himself...

Ah the joys of coaching, never going to impress everyone but i guess if you have a list of 19 and each week majority train and each week 19 all want to play then we must be doing something right.

Just wish some parents just were'n't so full on and putting their kids under such immense pressure, the idea of this great sport is to nurture the early, keep them interested and involved then as the grades start getting more full on then we train them for the future, not start at such an early age and burn them out before they can make big leagues!

One golden rule parents should realise also, Just because a child dominates at junior level it doesn't guarantee that child will make the AFL when older.

When i played junior footy i played alongside and agains the likes of Michael Doughty (Crows), Nathan Eagleton (Bulldogs), Jason Bevan (Pies).

I never would have thought Mick Doughty would have made AFL, at school he was small and not a prolific ball getter. He worked hard at Reynella, built his game, muscled up and moved to South Adelaide, then was recognised by the Crows. Imagine if every coach that had a player not getting much of the ball turned players like this early on away....

Mick's now a fantastic player, wish he was at the Tigers!

The other thing is also, there were 100's of players i imagined would make AFL and never did... I always thought Nathan Eagleton would, always been a gun... but others, well how they didn't go on i'll never know.

My Point is, If your not playing for premiership points at junior level, don't lower your eyes to the rest of your list, develop them, enjoy coaching and watch with admiration and pride as they develop into players who love the game. Better they stay in AFL loving the sport then hating it, not watch then turn to Soccer....

What makes me tick...

Not sure if you've noticed, i started my previous blogs with Ok... whoops..

Anyhow, as i said, i'm 33, married to my darling wife of 3 years and have two wonderful children aged 8 & 5.

My oldest is in year 3 and doing really well, part of the gifted program at his school. Loves his sports and currently plays Football, Soccer, Baseball and Swimming.

My youngest has just started her first term of school and is loving the transition from kindergarten, not apart of the gifted program yet but pretty sure she will follow in her brothers footsteps. She's currently just getting into her sport and is doing Calisthenics and Swimming but wants to join us at baseball soon too.

Me I coach my boys Under 9's footy team and Little League Minors Baseball team, i play also.

My wife so far has managed to put up with my footy obsession, god help her if we ever win a flag! She drowns out the weekly football drama's with her love of reading, god knows how she reads with us loud children in the house...