Chad Townsend

[HunchoRooster]

I was hoping we signed Hunt purely to prevent Chad T getting any game time for us. I cannot fathom how there could be any excitement for this guy coming. He got dropped by the Cowboys for Jake farrking Clifford. They played better without him. He was average in his 20s in his prime and is even worse now in his 30s.

I guess its good we have an experienced half to back up Sam while he's injured but we could've gotten the same value out of a rookie and bled them into the NRL and given them key experience.

[Inflictor]

I was hoping we signed Hunt purely to prevent Chad T getting any game time for us. I cannot fathom how there could be any excitement for this guy coming. He got dropped by the Cowboys for Jake farrking Clifford. They played better without him. He was average in his 20s in his prime and is even worse now in his 30s.

I guess its good we have an experienced half to back up Sam while he's injured but we could've gotten the same value out of a rookie and bled them into the NRL and given them key experience.

Who's to say we won't be using one of the young guys for a few games?
We didn't sign Townsend to play half a season while Sammy is out. Unfortunately the Roosters injury jinx hit us late in the season after we signed him.
I believe he will add value mentoring our young halves now that Keary is gone. I'm sure that was the reason he was signed.
He might start the season but if we aren't winning games Elliot might get a few games.

[Bates]

Chaddy may be a little rusty.

We'll need to be patient.

[ChookMaster]

Usually disagree with nearly everything you say lol. However this is exactly what I have been saying. Yes it's good to have a long boot in the team to get us out of trouble but the good teams are not the good teams because their halves can kick it really far. It is not the be all end all.

It's about getting the first 4 tackles of the set right and defending our line. These are 2 areas that the Riff and Melb do infinitely better than us.

How about when Toups dropped a high bomb off Clez early in the first final? I’m sure they scored off that set and started dominating from that moment onwards.

We’ve been lacking someone with a proper boot on them for years.

[HunchoRooster]

How about when Toups dropped a high bomb off Clez early in the first final? I’m sure they scored off that set and started dominating from that moment onwards.

We’ve been lacking someone with a proper boot on them for years.

Yeah but how often does Toops drop a bomb like that? We were overwhelmed from every angle in that 1st half.

[bondi.boy]

I was hoping we signed Hunt purely to prevent Chad T getting any game time for us. I cannot fathom how there could be any excitement for this guy coming. He got dropped by the Cowboys for Jake farrking Clifford. They played better without him. He was average in his 20s in his prime and is even worse now in his 30s.

I guess its good we have an experienced half to back up Sam while he's injured but we could've gotten the same value out of a rookie and bled them into the NRL and given them key experience.

We need experienced halves ready to go from the start of game one in 2025.
Chad and Sandon will be up for it, I believe.

[ChookMaster]

Yeah but how often does Toops drop a bomb like that? We were overwhelmed from every angle in that 1st half.

He also dropped one against Burton in the rain mate.

Another renowned huge kicker.

[ism22]

We need experienced halves ready to go from the start of game one in 2025.
Chad and Sandon will be up for it, I believe.

Yeah I reckon experience will be the big thing. He's played almost 300 games and won a premiership. Makes him a good partner for an inexperienced half.

Be interesting to see who does what but can't see this as being a bad thing.

[SamKerrSimp]

Fair, but same could be said for DCE. Parra and Manly stay in the fight in a fair amount of games because both Moses and DCE have big boots. It’s not everything, I acknowledged that. You need a solid team around you, and that half needs to be able to pull the strings. But having big kicks can help keep you in the arm wrestle longer.

Parra haven't "been in the fight" since the 2022 semi finals and Manly stay in it because they have some world class forwards who give them punch to break the opposition line. We lost the arm wrestle in the 2019 grand final despite having Cooper Cronk in the team, ball control and a runners who can bend the line are why Melbourne and Penrith are dominating not because of how long their halves kick the ball.

[BTRD]

I am definitely going to back Townsend in to do some good things for us. Just need our forwards to be outstanding every week.

[Vasco]

He'll be steady rather than brilliant. He'll kick to the corner, organise the attack, kick goals and shovel to the outside backs. That's what he's good at.

I used to despise him when he played for other clubs. He's got a bit of grub in him. Maybe we need that.

[Funky Chicken]

Last 2 years at the Cowboys he has been extremely poor to say the least, and Cowboys fans have been rejoicing since the day we announced his signing.

• He doesn't have a long kick, and most of his general play kicking is predictable and bog average.
• His defends about as well as Rick Allen (Def Leppard drummer who only has one arm)
• His pace is on par with 'Handbrake Hutch'
• He never takes the line on (because he is too slow and has 'Stevie Wonder' like vision) so simply kick or passes, making it easy for the defence.
• For a player with 250+ FG games he still takes dumb options and panics under pressure.
• His goal kicking is C+ at best.

I would love nothing more than to have him force me to eat a big old slice of humble pie and play out of his skin next year, but at this stage my expectations are very low.