Ben Crowe has explained the role he played in mentoring and guiding Richmond captain Trent Cotchin.
It was only a few years ago when there were calls for Cotchin to be replaced as Tigers skipper, around the same time there was a desire to overthrow Damien Hardwick as coach.
During this tumultuous time at Punt Road, NIKE’s former sports marketing director Crowe took the opportunity to work alongside Richmond president Peggy O’Neal.
As a leadership mentor, life coach and adviser, Crowe implemented the power of purpose, provided education on how to embrace vulnerability and focused on high performance principles, among other specific mindsets.
Cotchin has become one of the most selfless players in the Richmond side and his leadership has risen to elite levels over the past few years, coinciding with the club’s recent success, and Crowe has explained how the turnaround was inspired.
“I was working with Peggy O’Neal at the time and agreed to mentor Damien and Trent,” he said on SEN Breakfast.
“All the credit goes to those guys and Peggy for the transformation of Richmond, especially around purpose mindset.
“Authenticity, vulnerability, connection and storytelling and these principles are something that they’ve really embraced and celebrated.”
Regarding what was taught and learnt, Crowe continued: “We are so hard on ourselves as a human race.
“We’ve got this unconscious, negative bias. We get caught up with perfection myth or feeling like we’re not good enough or don’t deserve to be captain or loved enough, successful enough.
“You can give yourself permission to be imperfect but also unconditionally worthy. If you can hold those two thoughts together, you can take off that mask, take off that armour and give yourself permission to be worthy of love, connection, belonging, taking your team on a journey.
“The Trent story was beautiful, from unofficially voted the worst captain in the AFL to officially, by his peers, voted the best captain in the AFL.
“All credit to Trent. He’s literally found his authenticity and from that point of view he can show up in the world.”
Cotchin’s turnabout of mindset and change in game style were the catalyst for Richmond turning the corner in 2017 when they broke a 37-year premiership drought.
He is now a two-time premiership captain one of the most respected leaders in the AFL.
Listen to Crowe on SEN Breakfast below: