Richmond great Kevin Bartlett says it is "ridiculous" that promising Tigers youngster Trent Cotchin has been appointed to the AFL club's leadership group.

The highly-rated 19-year-old midfielder, entering his third season, has allayed fears he will be poached by the Gold Coast for their 2011 debut by signing a deal to stay at Tigerland until the end of 2013.

But Bartlett, Richmond's games record-holder and former coach, said while there were high hopes the 2007 No.2 draft pick would be a future star, it was unfair to thrust a player with minimal experience into a leadership role.

"It is ridiculous, it is absolutely ridiculous," Bartlett said on his SEN radio show on Thursday.

"It is not as if he's played two full seasons of AFL football.

"The kid's had bad injuries - Achilles, ankles, groins, whatever he's had wrong with him.

"He's put together 25 games, of which probably three or four you'd say showed a lot of ability, and all of a sudden you're part of the leadership group, that is ridiculous."

Bartlett said Cotchin would be poorly equipped to cope if Richmond's leadership group was asked to deal with a player disciplinary issue, such as the current Brendan Fevola nude photo saga or Ben Cousins' drug problems during his time with West Coast.

"Trent Cotchin might be the best leader in three or four years' time, but you've got to have some life skills," he said.

Meanwhile, Cotchin said he was pleased to be able to scotch suggestions he had been secretly dealing with Gold Coast.

"I was disappointed that some people would actually think that I would do that behind the club's back," he told Richmond's website.

"No, my plan always was to be with Richmond and stay with the club ... it was just a matter of time until I signed.

"We spoke about it, initially, before Christmas and agreed that we'd see how the start of the year panned out.

"But then, obviously, a bit of pressure came with the media speculation, although it didn't affect my decision, or the way we were going about it.

"In the end, we decided that it was the right time and I'm very glad it's happened."

He said the strong camaraderie at the club was a big factor in his decision.

"That's the best thing about it - the togetherness," he said.

"I'm really confident we've got the right people in place to eventually achieve sustained success and that's what were working towards at the moment."

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