‘He’s dead to me’: Matthew Richardson slams Trent Cotchin

Richmond icon Matthew Richardson has delivered both barrels to a former teammate after spotting him walking around in rival colours.

Richmond great Matthew Richardson was not happy with his former teammate Trent Cotchin on Friday night.

The Channel 7 commentator did not like what he was seeing as cameras panned to Cotchin standing on the Brisbane bench in full Lions gear.

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“How much does this hurt your soul Matty Richardson?” Abbey Holmes asked.

Richo didn’t hold back as he took aim at the former Tigers skipper.

“That is not Trent Cotchin … what is going on? Everyone is leaving the Tigers, fair dinkum. That’s it, he’s dead to me Cotchin. I’ll never speak to him again.”

Cotchin joined the Lions ahead of the 2024 AFL season in a leadership role that sees him working closely with the club’s captains.

Cotch rocking his Lions gear. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Richo isn’t a fan of the look. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Cotchin got the last laugh as the Lions emphatically put the brakes on the Western Bulldogs’ mid-season momentum with a comprehensive 43-point victory in an upset result at Marvel Stadium.

After a seesawing first quarter, which produced five lead changes, the Lions blew the game wide open in the second, with six goals to one, as they belatedly capitalised on their total domination of general play.

At halftime, the Lions were smashing the Dogs in clearances 30-13, contested possessions 79-60, inside 50s 36-19 and disposals 213-157 to lead by 33 points before running out 17.12 (114) to 10.11 (71) victors.

Eric Hipwood tends to be a whipping boy for Brisbane fans, and with only two goals in his previous five games, he gave them plenty of reasons to be frustrated.

But the 26-year-old played the best match of his 164-game career against the Dogs, finishing up with an equal personal best six goals, to go with career-highs in disposals (20) and marks (13), as well as an equal best four contested marks, against one of the best defenders in the competition Liam Jones.

Hipwood was on fire against the Dogs. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Hipwood played like a man possessed as he imposed himself on the contest with unprecedented physicality, freely flying for his marks and helped his team end the contest early with four first-half majors.

Conversely, down the other end of the ground, without Aaron Naughton or Sam Darcy up forward, the Dogs were crying out for someone to fill the hole, but Rory Lobb could only muster five disposals and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (two goals) struggled to have an impact.

Jarrod Berry (23 touches and a goal) was also pivotal with a tremendous tagging job on Bulldogs champion Marcus Bontempelli, keeping arguably the best player in the AFL to six disposals in the first half, a week after his best-on-ground effort against Collingwood, which included a career-high 38 touches.

Bontempelli finished with a respectable 19 touches and three goals, but crucially he was shut out when the match was up for grabs.

Dual Brownlow Medalist Lachie Neale was outstanding for Brisbane as well, finishing with 38 possessions (14 contested), 10 clearances and two goals.

The Lions ended up creaming the Dogs in clearances 50-32 and inside 50s 64-45. The AFL average for marks inside 50 per game is 12, yet 10 minutes into the second quarter, the Lions already had eight and finished with a whopping 21.

- with Ronny Lerner, NCA Newswire