IT HAS been an up-and-down year for Richmond, but one shining light has been the emergence of Trent Cotchin.

The former Northern Knight missed the entire pre-season due to a variety of injuries, but just five games into his AFL career, he looks like he's been there forever, and a couple of weeks ago, post-match, coach Terry Wallace described him as a "decade player".

The 18-year-old snapped up this week's NAB AFL Rising Star nomination, and Wallace was no less enthusiastic this time around.

"It's really pleasing for Trent, and the football club – I think every club loves to have their young players on display, and getting credit for their work," he said.

"From a footy club point-of-view it's always pleasing to get Rising Star nominations, and I think particularly with Trent, not being able to do the pre-season, it even shows more his natural abilities."

The importance of a proper pre-season was immense, Wallace said.

"Absolutely – we'd love to be in a situation where he's got the full summer. I don't think there's a player in the competition, right to the top level of the very best in the competition, that can ever really perform at their best without having that proper pre-season there.

"So what we're getting out of Trent at the moment really is only probably 60 or 70 per cent of what you'd be capable of getting out of him with a pre-season behind him.

"Realistically, when we started the season was when he started his pre-season. That's the way that we looked at it as a football club – he'll tell you that he'd done a lot of work prior to then, but it was restricted.

"Look, he was a long, long, long way behind the others."