%20-%20long.png)
%20no%20THF%20logo.png)
Published 20th August, 2025.
Trent Cotchin is Richmond’s three-time premiership captain, 2012 Brownlow Medallist and one of the AFL’s most respected leaders. Across 16 years and 306 games, Trent led the Tigers from decades of struggle into a golden era, lifting the premiership cup in 2017, 2019 and 2020. He shares lessons on resilience, leadership, and balancing elite sport with family—insights he now brings as an author, mentor and commentator.
It’s time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy.
***
To support this podcast, check out our some of our sponsors & get discounts:
→ $1,000 off Vanta: Your compliance superpower — Vanta.com/high
→ Get up to 6 months of Notion’s Business plan for free with Notion AI included (worth $12K): Go to - https://ntn.so/highflyers & click “Apply Now”
***
If you're keen to discuss sponsorship and partnering with us, email us at contact@curiositycentre.com today!
Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, Founder of Curiosity Center and The High Flyers Podcast.
It’s now time to explore your curiosity.
***
Trent Cotchin opens up in this rare, in-depth conversation:
▪️ Growing up in Reservoir with two sisters, and a dream to play AFL
▪️ Getting drafted at 17 and learning resilience through early injuries
▪️ Becoming Richmond captain at 22 and navigating identity, pressure, and leadership
▪️ Why 2016 was a turning point and how it changed his mindset
▪️ Working with Ben Crowe and learning to lead with vulnerability
▪️ Inside Richmond’s culture of care, connection, and honesty
▪️ Balancing life as a husband, father, and athlete
▪️ Transitioning out of footy and building a portfolio career
▪️ Running a marathon in Africa and leaning into discomfort
▪️ Helping his son learn how to lose well while staying competitive
This is a different side of Trent you may not have heard before.
***
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter
Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly Here
Contact us to discuss sponsorship opportunities, recommend future guests or share feedback, we love hearing how to improve!
Thank you for rating / reviewing this podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show!
Show notes
Timestamps
About us
The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most relatable role models in business, tech, finance, government and sport in the US, Australia, Singapore, India and New Zealand.
Launched over 6.5+ years ago - our 275+ guests come from various industries around the world including:
Investing and Finance (VC, PE, Pension Funds, Family Offices)
Our guests across venture capital, growth investing, institutional capital, banking, pension funds and family offices include: Keith Rabois (MD, Khosla Ventures), Jason Collins (CEO, BlackRock Asia Pacific), Ryan Beiermeister (Partner, Founders Fund), David Haber (General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz), Kevin Hartz (Managing Partner, A*), Mike Vernal (Partner, Conviction; Ex-Sequoia), David Schneider (Growth Fund Co-Lead Partner, Coatue), Venky Ganesan (Managing Partner, Menlo Ventures), Mark Suster (Managing Partner, Upfront Ventures), Kelland Reilly (Partner, Airtree; Ex General Atlantic, D1), Niki Scevak (Managing Partner, Blackbird), Paul Bassat (Managing Partner, Square Peg), David Neal (CEO, IFM Investors), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Michael Kim (Partner, Cendana Capital), Beezer Clarkson (Partner, Sapphire), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), David Shein (Managing Partner, OIF), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Rowan Simpson (Founder, Hoku) and more.
Technology, AI and software (Startups, Big Tech, Publicly Listed)
Our technology, AI and software guests include Jodie Auster (Uber’s Global Head of Travel), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Mel Silva (MD, Google), Jean-Michel Lemieux (former CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Google Chrome, Photos and Drive), Shiv Rao (CEO, Abridge), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Dylan Babbs (Co-Founder & CTO, Profound), John Willett (Co-Founder & COO, Rogo), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Andrew Fraser (President, Halter), Bowen Pan (creator of Facebook Marketplace) and more.
CEOs, Boards and Major Company Senior Executives
Our guests leading some of the world's largest and most recognisable organisations include Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths Group), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Paul Grosmann (CEO, R.M.Williams), Andrew Penn (CEO, Telstra), Vandita Pant (CFO, BHP), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Craig Tiley (CEO, Tennis USA), Brendan Hargreaves (CFO, Officeworks), Andrew Fraser (Board Chair, Bank of Queensland), Jaddan Cummerford (CEO, Unified Music), Ed McManus (CEO, Deliveroo) and more.
Government and Policy Makers
Our government, diplomatic and public-policy guests include Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Amit Singh (Managing Partner, Mandala), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Australia's Foreign Service), Philip Green (Australia’s High Commissioner to India), Brendan Dowling (Deputy Secretary, Australia's Department of Home Affairs), Mukund Narayanamurti (General Manager for South Asia, Austrade) and Ryan Neelam (CEO, Centre for Australia-India Relations, Australian Government).
Professional Athletes
Steve Solomon (400m Olympic Sprinter), Ed Cowan (Former Test Cricketer), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Lisa Stahelakar (World Cup Winning Captain, Australian Womens Cricket Team).
Contact us
Please be as specific as possible, thank you.