Furious Tex Walker blasts Trent Cotchin for ‘deliberately’ kicking him and slams lenient penalty

Adelaide Crows forward Taylor ‘Tex’ Walker has accused Richmond’s Trent Cotchin of deliberately kicking him in their clash at Adelaide Oval on Saturday and has slammed the Match Review Officer for not suspending the Tigers star.

The pair got tangled up as they contested the ball over the sideline in the third quarter of the Crows win, which saw Cotchin fall after being bumped by Walker.

Cotchin then appeared to raise his leg as Walker hurdled him, which the Crows star has labelled a deliberate attempt to strike him.

Walker reacts after giving away a free kick in his side’s win over Richmond on Saturday

Cotchin escaped with a $2000 fine from the AFL’s Match Review Officer but Walker said he should have copped far worse. 

Speaking to the panel on Triple M’s Roo, Ditto and Loz for Breakfast, Walker accused the AFL of double standards and said there would have been a suspension if the roles were reversed.

‘He got fined a couple of grand,’ Mark ‘Roo’ Ricciuto said.

‘It’s gotta be more than that, surely. You can’t go around kicking blokes,’ Chris ‘Ditts’ Dittmar said. 

‘Especially when it’s deliberate,’ Walker agreed.

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

Walked appeared to knock Cotchin to the ground as the duo tumbled over the sideline

Cotchin then appears to stick his leg out to strike Walker from the ground

Crows legend Ricciuto said GWS’ Toby Greene, who is set to return after a six-game suspension for pushing an umpire last year, would have been suspended for ‘three or four weeks’ if he had committed the same act. 

Walker claimed Greene would have been suspended for an entire season for an incident like Cotchin’s. 

It comes as Walker stands to be re-instated as part of Adelaide’s leadership group following his hot start to 2022. Walker was suspended for six games last year after he made a racist comment at an SANFL game.

Walker was named captain of the Crows in 2014 before standing down in 2019. Current Adelaide captain Rory Sloane has been ruled out for the season with an ACL injury and although Walker won’t be parachuted into the captaincy again, AFL Media journalist Damian Barrett said he’ll ‘probably be the unofficial leader’.

‘We’ve all had judgments and views and strong opinions… but he’s got the second chance,’ Barrett said on Channel 9’s Footy Classified.

‘While Sloane is going out, it’s not ideal that Tex Walker is going to become the man, at least symbolically, it’s actually the perfect scenario for Adelaide to get through this Sloane-less period.’