What Lions mentor Trent Cotchin has worked with Cam Rayner on amid breakout season

Three-time Richmond premiership captain Trent Cotchin has played a hand in having Brisbane qualify for the 2024 Grand Final after working at the club in a leadership role this campaign.

One player who he’s spent a fair bit of time with is emerging forward Cam Rayner, who has hailed Cotchin for the work he’s done with him behind the scenes which has helped culminate in a career-best year for the 24-year-old.

The former No. 1 pick was immense in Brisbane’s 85-95 Preliminary Final win over Geelong on Saturday with 18 disposals, five tackles and two goals - including the sealer from 55m on the run with his opposite left boot - and Cotchin was thrilled to see the budding gun get some genuine reward for effort.

Cotchin hailed Rayner for always putting the team first which has allowed him to find a new level of consistency and he explained some of the things he’s been working on with him in 2024 to help him impact on games on top of the superstar moments he often produces.

“Cam's doing a lot of the work himself,” Cotchin told SEN Afternoons.

“He's an incredible person. He cares so much about the team, and sometimes that's probably to the detriment of his own individual performance, but I think that's what makes him such a great teammate.

“He truly just wants the team to win and will do anything that he can to do that. Whether that be from the role he's playing or the way that he's executing in game.

“I think the biggest thing that I've noticed, particularly in the last few weeks, is that he doesn't necessarily have to dominate the whole game of footy to have a huge impact.

“That doesn't come down to, you know, the amazing left foot goal that he kicked just before the end of the game on the weekend or the big mark that he took on the wing, it’s those smaller actions where he just creates contests and brings some of those other lively forwards into the game.

“I think for him it's taking the pressure off feeling like he has to do all the big stuff and doing the simple stuff and more consistently is what's going to make him such a great competitor across four quarters of footy.”

Rayner and the Lions next get a chance to avenge their 2023 Grand Final loss, and he’ll be hoping to put in a bigger performance on Saturday than he did 12 months earlier when he had just 11 touches and went goalless against the Magpies.

Cotchin thinks that Rayner has the ability to grab a hold of things against Sydney this weekend and he thinks there’s no better preparation for a Grand Final than what he experienced last Saturday at the MCG against the Cats.

“What's a better lead-up than playing in front of 93,000 at the ‘G? That’s obviously where the game will be played this Saturday in front of a big crowd,” Cotchin said.

“He clearly is that kind of player that you want to really grab a hold of because he brings excitement to the game, unlike many others.

“I'm really looking forward to him performing on Grand Final day.”

Saturday’s Grand Final at the MCG between Sydney and Brisbane begins at 2:30 pm (AEST).