Trent Cotchin: How Dimma’s marriage breakdown divided captain and coach

Richmond great Trent Cotchin has detailed how Damien Hardwick’s marriage split changed their relationship and ‘distracted’ the playing group.

Trent Cotchin says Damien Hardwick’s marriage breakdown changed their relationship. Picture: Michael Klein

Retired Richmond great Trent Cotchin has revealed the fallout from Damien Hardwick’s marriage breakdown impacted the club and his own relationship with the coach during the Tigers’ premiership defence in 2021.

In a new book, From the Heart, Cotchin said while he never liked to delve into personal relationships, he stressed it had been a difficult situation for the club to manage, particularly in the early stages.

“Was it a distraction for the group? In my view, at times it was,” Cotchin said in the book. “Did it impact my relationship with Dimma? I would say yes, at that point, 100 per cent.”

Cotchin said Hardwick’s then wife Danielle had been a part of the Tigers’ narrative of connection during their premiership years.

He detailed how he met with Hardwick on Boxing Day 2020, urging him to address the situation with the playing group on the first day back in 2021.

Lifting the cup in 2019 after mauling the Giants. Picture: Michael Klein.

“We had built this culture on a platform of family, connection and love – and Dimma and Danielle’s relationship had played a big part in all this – so it was only natural to be worried about the potential fallout,” he said.

“The first (reason for seeing him) was to check in on him to see if he was going OK – the upheaval in his life was enormous. The second was in my capacity as captain, because I was concerned with how what was unfolding might impact the team.

“I wanted an understanding of how Dimma was going to address the issue with our playing group, to ensure that it wasn’t going to be a distraction or wasn’t going to derail our premiership defence leading into the 2021 season.”

Cotchin admitted that for a time it put a strain on his relationship with his coach.

“I still loved Dimma and still respected him as a coach … but I am not sure my relationship with him ever got back to the level it had been before,” he said.

“For whatever reason, there always seemed to be a bit of a barrier between us. Maybe it wasn’t just the captain and the coach; maybe it was emblematic of the group’s connection that season.

“We didn’t lose the plot in 2021 but if I reflect properly, there just wasn’t the same insane connection between the playing group that had been our suit of armour from 2017 to 2020.”

Trent Cotchin’s new book From the Heart.

Cotchin will go down as one of the greatest Tigers of all time. Picture: Danielle Smith

From The Heart by Trent Cotchin (HarperCollins Publishers, $49.99) is on sale from November 1.

Pre-order your copy of the book at harpercollins.com.au/trentcotchin/ and go into the running to win a prize pack containing a Richmond hoodie, cap and scarf with a signed book.