Former Richmond captain Chris Newman has heaped praise on his successor Trent Cotchin for igniting a robust response from the Tigers at the Gabba last Saturday night.

Richmond had suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of the Western Bulldogs the previous round, and was under pressure to bounce back strongly against Brisbane in their Round 3 clash.

It was Cotchin, who paved the way for the Tigers from the outset, picking up a dozen disposals in the opening quarter, on his way to a game-high 37.

Richmond and Melbourne will play in the first Anzac Day eve match this Friday night at the MCG

“His game was fantastic . . . he led from the front.  I thought his pressure around the football and the contest was something that set the example for the rest of us,” Newman said on Triple M.

“It’s great to see the captain putting his head over the footy and winning those contested balls.  And not only doing that, but using the ball really well and setting us up going forward.” 

Newman was bemused by criticism of Cotchin leading into last weekend’s match . . .

“He’s had a reasonable start to the year, I would have thought.  He had a quiet opening round, but I thought he was reasonably good last week (against the Western Bulldogs) and he played a really good game against the Lions. 

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“He’s the barometer for our team . . . he really sparked us into that manic sort of pressure.  He is our captain and he leads from the front. 

“We’re really happy with the way he’s performing at the moment, and that has to be his focus each week – not only impacting the game offensively, but defensively doing the job that he’s doing.”