Tigers staying hungry for flags
RICHMOND captain Trent Cotchin says the taste of premiership glory will drive his side as the Tigers hunt backto-back flags.
The Tigers’ senior players joined pre-season training yesterday, a little more than two months after winning last season’s grand final.
“You can look at it from two different aspects – rest on your successes or you can be motivated by the experience that you had,” Cotchin said yesterday.
“I know the group we have at this footy club is really hungry and we’ll do everything we can day in day out to grow and get better.”
With Alex Rance back in their defensive line-up the Tigers are favourites to take out their third premiership in four seasons. But the dual premiership skipper knows it will take more than the five-time All-Australian for them to achieve the holy grail in 2020.
“Every football club when they start pre-season their goal is to win a premiership,” Cotchin said.
“The reality is a lot needs to go your way, you need to perform at your best for a long period of time and you need a lot of luck.
“We’re still a long way from our first game so there’s plenty of work to be done.”
Rance was looking trim at the Tigers’ first session back, with Cotchin adding it’s been difficult to hold him back in his recovery from an ACL injury.
The Brownlow medallist says Rance is “as fit as ever” and believes his off-field work will be invaluable for the Tigers in their pursuit of another premiership.
“I know that some of the commentary around is that the draft’s been had and we get a new ‘draft pick’ next year in Alex Rance, which is amazing,” Cotchin said.
“His mountain of work that he did not only on the field, particularly with our VFL program last year, is going to be amazing for us and his development this season.”
Grand Final heartbreak story Jack Graham (shoulder), Toby Nankervis (groin) and Dylan Grimes (wrist) were among those on light duties at their first session back after all three underwent surgery in the off-season. Graham and Nankervis are expected to be back into full training after Christmas.
It was also the first training session for Richmond’s new crop of draftees, with Thomson Dow, Brisbane academy pair Noah Cumberland and William Martyn, Hugo Ralphsmith and Bigoa Nyuon getting a feel for the Punt Road turf.