Taylor Walker hits out, accuses Trent Cotchin of deliberately kicking him

Taylor Walker took a swipe at Trent Cotchin for deliberately playing dirty as the Tigers star got off lightly after losing his cool.

Did Trent Cotchin cross the line?

Taylor Walker has fired back at Trent Cotchin for deliberately kicking him during the Crows’ win over Richmond on Saturday night.

Adelaide beat the Tigers 15.11 (101) to 12.10 (82) to score its second win of the season and frustration got the better of Cotchin when he was shovelled over the boundary line late in the third quarter.

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The former Richmond skipper got tangled up with Walker and Cotchin appeared to lash out with his left leg and strike the Crows spearhead on the knee with his studs.

Walker clearly didn’t appreciate it, reacting immediately as he turned around to shove Cotchin and grab hold of his guernsey.

Walker responded to the skirmish on Triple M radio and didn’t miss Cotchin with his blunt appraisal of the incident, which cost the Tigers star a $2000 fine.

Asked whether Cotchin should have been punished more severely, Walker said: “Especially when it’s deliberate.

“I tell you what, if the shoe was on the other foot I would have been missing the next month.”

Did Trent Cotchin cross the line?

Richmond is now 11th with two wins and three losses for the season. It could have been a different story on Saturday night after the Tigers overcame a 25-point deficit to take the lead in the third term, only for Adelaide to keep its cool and register a second victory for 2022.

Tigers coach Damien Hardwick pinpointed what went wrong in his post-match press conference.

“The reason that we lost the game is that we gave up 10.5 from stoppage,” Hardwick said.

“It’s been consistently poor this year … we’ve got to get better at the contest behind the ball.

“You give up 10 goals from stoppages … that’s really, really poor.

“We should be able to defend those better especially when we’ve got a plus-one at most stages down there. We’ve got to get better.”