Trent Cotchin was sweeping the sheds after Richmond’s qualifying final win over Geelong

TRENT Cotchin came of age as a player and leader on Friday night, but he wasn’t finished yet in a display that left club chiefs in awe of his leadership. WATCH THE VIDEO

(L-R) Dustin Martin, Kane Lambert and Dion Prestia swamp Trent Cotchin after his final-term goal. Picture: AAP

TIGERS boss Brendon Gale says this is Trent Cotchin’s team.

Renowned hard man Neil Balme admits he “had a tear in the eye” when the skipper snapped his miracle last-term goal.

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But the measure of the man occurred when he would have presumed the cameras were off late on Friday night.

Cotchin was captured cleaning the Richmond change rooms of rubbish and Gatorade bottles as the last man out of the rooms.

He joked he was just picking up where “clean freak” Ivan Maric left off.

But Richmond footy boss Balme confirmed Cotchin was adopting a mantra taken up by the all-powerful All Blacks.

Trent Cotchin leads the Tigers forward against the Cats. Picture: Mark Stewart

They call it “sweeping the sheds”, star players cleaning up post-match in a message you are not being too big to do the small things that need to be done.

It is a leadership principle that has echoed across the sporting world given their remarkable success.

“Yeah, he would have read about that legacy,’’ Balme said.

“We have talked about it, not last week but 12 months ago we went through it and he is just a very thoughtful kid.

“The All Blacks don’t own that message but they get good results and some of it has to be the way they behave.

“He is a good boy and I had a tear in my eye when he kicked that goal.”

Former ruckman and club chief Gale has seen Cotchin endure the highs and lows, including two horrific finals he admits he pondered during the week off.

He was mighty against Geelong, physically battering Patrick Dangerfield as the Tigers forced the Cats star into four turnovers in the first two minutes of the last term.

“I was so proud of him and happy for him,” Gale said.

“This is his team. He has taken his leadership to another level and imposed his standards and expectations on this team.

“It’s about connection and unity and brotherhood and care. I think that (footage of him cleaning up) was the exemplification of that.”

Cotchin admits he loves his best mate Dustin Martin, as the duo went to work dominating Geelong until they broke.

“Like any of your best mates, you’d die for them. That’s where Dusty and I my relationship is,’’ he said on Saturday.

Martin has taken his famous fend off to a new level this year, with an amazing 74 broken tackles from the much-vaunted ‘don’t argue’.

He broke six tackles against Geelong, at one stage going looking for the next Cat to come at him so he could fend him off then burst into space.

His 74 broken tackles are a competition-high, followed by daylight then Patrick Dangerfield (24), Sam Powell-Pepper (24) and Jake Stringer (23).

Martin has been pinged for holding the ball just once per game this year despite his 695 possessions.

That means he has penalised once per 30.22 possessions, behind only Tom Mitchell, Matt Crouch and Patrick Dangerfield in that statistic.

The Dustin Martin fend. Picture: Getty Images

Originally published as Trent Cotchin was sweeping the sheds after Richmond’s qualifying final win over Geelong