Tigers back on track says Cotchin

Richmond captain Trent Cotchin has dismissed the notion that it’s typical of the Tigers to be inconsistent.

After knocking over reigning AFL premiers Hawthorn, the Tigers crashed back to earth with a heavy loss to Adelaide last weekend to drop back to seventh on the ladder.

They have a chance to redeem themselves against Gold Coast on Sunday at MCG, and will have star midfielder Brett Deledio back from illness.

Cotchin bristled at suggestions that was quintessential Tigers’ form to lose games they were expected to win.

“I don’t even knows what typical Richmond means, we know what’s expected of us and we didn’t provide it,” Cotchin said on Tuesday.

“You look at our eight to 10 weeks prior to that, I thought we were pretty steady.

“The challenge for us is to make sure that each week is a four-quarter performance.”

Richmond have lost three out of their previous four clashes with 16th placed Gold Coast, but all of those matches took place in Queensland.

Despite their lowly ladder position, Cotchin was wary of Gold Coast, who were 14-point winners over Brisbane last round.

Since they turned their season around with a win against Collingwood back in round seven, Richmond haven’t suffered consecutive defeats.

Cotchin predicted they would again respond well to their disappointing loss.

“That’s the challenge for our group and on most occasions we’ve come out and performed after a disappointing loss,” he said.

“The guys will work hard on the track and hopefully we can string four quarters together.

“The reality is that we need to perform against Gold Coast on Sunday.”

Deledio said Twitter he was on his “death-bed”, but Cotchin was confident his teammate would play.

“I think it was more that he didn’t want to have to carry tissues on the ground to blow his little sniffle that he had,” Cotchin said.

“No, he was pretty crook … he’ll be fine to play this week.”

The Tigers will be missing Dylan Grimes and Reece Conca, who have hamstring injuries.

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