Cotchin’s baby due in AFL finals

It’s the baby that has the potential to hurt Richmond’s finals hopes and help their long-term future.

Tigers captain Trent Cotchin and wife Brooke are expecting a child in AFL grand final week.

Cotchin could be forced to follow in the footsteps of countless footballers who have had to pick between club and bub.

“I’ll attack that when it comes. That’s the beauty of pregnancy, you can’t pick and choose when it comes,” Cotchin said.

Damien Hardwick, sitting next to Cotchin on Monday, quipped in response he was “a bit nervous now”.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Brooke hang in there, come on!”

Tigers chief executive Brendon Gale told radio station 3AW the club would cross the bridge when it needed to.

“I’ve got a very simple theory, family first. The arrival of a child would be a very special thing,” Gale added.

Chris Judd’s son Oscar was days old when the father-son jokes started and Cotchin jnr would attract similar attention given his father’s status at Richmond.

Retired ruckman Darren Jolly would be well placed to offer advice, his first child Scarlett being delivered the day before the 2006 grand final.

BABY OR BALL?

“It was extremely hard to switch from being excited about the birth of our first child to focusing on the game … it was the worst game I have played in my career,” DARREN JOLLY reflects in a newspaper column on two life-changing events in 2006 grand final week.

“I won’t be missing a game of footy, she’s good with that … if it was my first child, we agreed I’d miss a game,” North Melbourne’s DREW PETRIE explains in 2012 that wife Nicole had given him a green light to miss the birth of their second child.

“I hope Samantha has her legs crossed and the baby doesn’t come out too early,” Queensland coach MAL MENINGA during the 2013 State of Origin rugby league series, when star charge Johnathan Thurston’s wife was heavily pregnant.

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