Deledio farewells Punt Road0:22
AFL: Brett Deledio has taken to Instagram to thank Richmond for his time at the club.
Trent Cotchin to challenge Richmond teammates to regain hunger after disappointing season
RICHMOND captain Trent Cotchin will throw down a challenge to his teammates over pre-season to regain their hunger and improve themselves to help the Tigers surge back up the ladder.
Coming off a disappointing season, the Tigers and coach Damien Hardwick will be under pressure to perform in 2017.
After being knocked out in elimination finals in three consecutive years, Richmond plummeted to 13th this year after falling from 15 wins in 2015 to just eight in 2016.
The Tigers’ first-to-fourth-year players will return for pre-season training next Monday before the whole list reports for duty later this month.
Cotchin, whose leadership has continually been questioned, will be ready to implore his teammates to work as hard as they can and push each other to improve in the hope of becoming a force once more.
“On the back of a disappointing year we need to take some big steps forward,” Cotchin said.
“We just need to find the hunger to drive not only yourself as an individual but each other to get better.
“That’s what I’ll be challenging the group from day one (of pre-season) ... ‘What are you doing to make sure that you take big steps forward?’
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“Because if you don’t, you fall behind whether that’s as an individual or from a team point of view.”
Richmond blooded some new players this year including promising youngsters Daniel Rioli, Oleg Markov and rookie Jayden Short, who has been upgraded to the senior list for 2017, but will heavily feel the loss of star Brett Deledio to GWS.
While Dion Prestia and Josh Caddy will add to the club’s clutch of midfielders and add to its on-field arsenal, Cotchin knows the improvement he desperately seeks won’t come without the motivation to do so from players who were part of the poor 2016 campaign.
“There were some great signs, we’re just looking for guys to take a big next step over the pre-season,” Cotchin told the club’s website. “We need to challenge each other from within.”
The Tigers captain won’t be the only one asking his teammates to improve, with star defender Alex Rance to work with his fellow defenders over pre-season to become better players.
Rance, a member of the leadership group this year, wants to be part of a harder and more determined defensive group in 2017 after leaking the fourth-most scores to opposition this year.
“My focus individually will be just to step back a little bit and allow blokes like ‘Grimesy’ (Dylan Grimes) and Dave (Astbury) and Nick Vlastuin to start to take control a bit more,” Rance said.
“I really want the back six to be known as a really desperate, hard unit that always wants the ball in their hands.”