[2][3] Cotton made his senior AFL debut against Carlton at Football Park in round 10 1997 and kicked two goals.
[4] He made three further appearances that season[4] but was unable to break into Port's side in 1998 and was delisted at the end of the year.
Cotton transferred from Central District to fellow SANFL club Norwood in 1999 and played in another grand final loss that season.
Cotton topped Norwood's goal-kicking in 2002 with 42 goals before crossing to a third SANFL club, South Adelaide in 2003 and then to Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) side Mt Gravatt in 2004, which he both played for and assistant coached.
[5] Following his retirement from playing, Cotton returned to South Australia and was appointed caretaker coach of Norwood Football Club for the final seven rounds of the 2009 SANFL season, following the resignation of coach Trevor Hill.