Richmond star forward Nathan Brown says the pride he takes in notching 200 AFL games is amplified by the struggles he faced to overcome his horrific leg injury.

Ahead of the milestone - against Melbourne at Telstra Dome on Sunday - Brown said it was only now, three years after badly breaking his leg, that he was starting to regain his best form.

"I'm probably not 100 per cent to where I was back in 2005 but close to it," Brown said.

"I think every week I'm feeling more comfortable and running out games really well, I played in the midfield on the weekend, so that's a step back to where I was playing, forward and midfield, back in 2005."

After sustaining the injury against the Demons in mid-2005, Brown made a short-lived return at the start of 2006, but missed much of that season and the first half of 2007 because of ongoing repercussions.

"I'm fairly proud of the way I've come back and played football," Brown said.

"It's been frustrating for the last two years not being able to play the football that I wanted to.

"I'm more proud now that I'm playing good football again, playing consistent football, because 2006, 2007 I wasn't able to give the team what I felt I needed to.

"I wasn't impacting games, my defensive side of my game wasn't good and it's just now that I'm starting to get my game back that I'm actually proud of where I've come from and what I've achieved."

Meanwhile, he admitted to enormous frustration at the Tigers' form in the past fortnight, but said one shining light was four-gamer Trent Cotchin, who Brown had no hesitation rating among the best youngsters he had ever seen.

"He just makes the right decisions with the ball just about every time he's got it and that's pretty rare in football these days," he said.

"We draft a lot of athletes and players who develop into good players, but to have a ready-made footballer come in and make the right decisions pretty much 95 per cent of the time he gets the ball is fantastic and someone you can build a midfield around for the next decade."

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