Richmond coach Damien Hardwick has praised Tigers captain Trent Cotchin for his sustained strong growth as a leader.

Hardwick is particularly pleased with the selfless attitude being displayed by Cotchin.

“In his game two weeks ago against Essendon, he got a heavy tag . . . Jake Melksham did a pretty good job on him.  But Trent, to his credit, effectively used his body as a battering ram in that game,” Hardwick said on SEN.

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“He knew that he wasn’t going to get a lot of the ball around stoppage. 

“He still managed to get 20-odd touches and, although they weren’t anywhere near as effective as normal, he made ‘two v ones’ within the contest, smashed into (Dyson) Heppell as much as he could, and just did things like that. 

“That’s what makes a really good leader, and Trent’s learning to sacrifice his game, so someone else can take up his touches, in effect. 

“You look at the great captains over the course of time, and they do these things regularly.”