Tigers’ nappy penalty

RICHMOND captain Trent Cotchin will return to face Gold Coast on Monday night and he’s bringing with him a bizarre new fine for any teammate who gives away a 50m penalty during the game.

Tigers coach Damien Hardwick revealed Cotchin had enforced a rule that any player who gives away a 50m penalty, will have to change his son, Parker’s, nappy.

The deterrent comes after a series of undisciplined 50m penalties during the Tigers’ 21point loss to Port Adelaide.

Hardwick confirmed Cotchin would return to the side but All-Australian defender Bachar Houli, who completed his two-weeks in isolation after rejoining the team from Melbourne, would be given another week.

“We’ve made a bit of a conservative call with regard to his preparation, he did have two weeks in the ISO hub with not a lot of ground to work with, so once again very important to how he plays,” Hardwick said, adding he was a near certainty to play in Round 13 against Essendon in Darwin.

“He hasn’t played for some six or seven weeks, he’s so important in the way we want to play, so we’ll get another week of training into him.”

Richmond go into the game against the Suns with a nineday break under its belt, which Hardwick said had enabled some decent training sessions as well as both a mental and physical break.

But he said the club was monitoring the homesickness levels of the players.

Cotchin’s return is one of three changes for the Tigers. Jack Graham and Oleg Markov also come in, with Jack Ross, Josh Caddy and Derek Eggmolesse-Smith dropped.

Gold Coast has also made three changes, with captain David Swallow and Jarrod Harbrow being rested, while Sean Lemmens has been dropped. Into the Suns’ line-up come Alex Sexton, Nick Holman and Caleb Graham.

Hardwick said his side would need to be on its best defensive game to beat the Suns.

“They’re a side that I love to watch, I love how they’re playing the game and it’s going to be a really good challenge for us,” Hardwick said.