from watching the vfl games, agree with the hard part, and liked the niggle and to get into players faces. Can’t remember the skill aspect.
I guess if they do pick him up, it’s lucky we have 2 coaches at present who have coached him previously so know what he will generally bring.
He would walk into our best 22.
Very happy with this. Rate him as a footballer and he adds a hard edge that we badly need
“But,but he’s not skillful enough” lols
Richmonds team are full of his type they value toughness,tackling,2 way running above skill
From the Richmond VFL games I watched this season, he rotated between playing forward and mids, and adds a bit of mongrel which will help us out. Bloke has been part of a successful culture, won the VFL B&F, VFL and AFL premierships. Welcome addition.
always love those having a sook about someone thats a bit of a scab player who loves a cheap shot and niggle.
thats half your heroes from the 80s, 90s and 00s ya ■■■■ wits.
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2015-10-16/townsend-a-tiger
This link features a vid of his early career at GWS. If you want to become a forward half team you can use players that tackle like he can. And the good news is he is much bigger now.
Bring him in - now!
Seems like a real two years, a dozen games, and we wish him well in his future endeavours kind of move.
Need less soft c*cks and showponys and more hard nuts. Don’t mind at all.
the rugby background comes to the fore with those tackles
bring
If cara and rutten rate him (they obviously do) then I put the trust in them he’ll be handy
If I was laverde or Begley I’d be pretty worried though. Doesn’t bode well for them imo
Townsend was getting games as a chip scab ahead of Sam Lloyd. I actually reckon Sam Lloyd is useful as a chip scab so, on that basis, I’m ok with it.
Townsend’s got some p rick in him and has a few bags of 5-plus. More than Laverde and Begley have offered. Also, he’s a good set shot. I’m sure we’ll quickly fix that…
Yeah, but most of them were ours from the start. Got to get over watching him do it to our players…
They did delist him, just sayin…
LIKE!
he knows the Richmond game plan.
knew we needed at least one tigers discard to help with the new game plan.
If he’s playing seniors, that says all that needs to be said about our midfield, or the defensive aptitude of several forwards. He is a state league quality player, but he will always give everything he has out there, which is more than can be said of others on the list.
@Bomber_Bradyn - Nope. Not remotely. He was already miles down the pecking order at Richmond before the injury and was fit enough to play a full year in the VFL.
He essentially played the 2017 Finals series as their 2nd tall forward despite being shorter than Heppell - you can catch teams out initially with that set-up, it might’ve worked in the 80s, but in the current era, inevitably unless that player is a livewire with multiple tricks in their arsenal, they’re going to be found out very quickly. They gave him every opportunity at the start of 2018 to replicate his finals heroics, but he had very few games with impact - 4 games with more than 10p and more importantly as a key forward only kicked more than a goal in 3 games.
His tackling/defensive pressure is his best quality, but under the Richmond forward set-up you’re either a tall or you’re quick - and Townsend is neither - he’d match or even surpass Rioli, Castagna etc for tackling pressure but he can’t remotely compare speed wise to make it a more a threatening compotent, nor is he tall enough to play as a key forward - and once Lynch arrived he virtually fell off the map in that regard anyway, especially as they’ve got a litany of developing talls all of whom are 6+cms taller than him.
He won a Liston Trophy as an inside mid, but he is completely unproven at AFL level as a meaningful one - never attended a bounce for Richmond and GWS played him as a tagger only. In the VFL this season, he dropped down the pecking order for inside time to the 2nd or sometimes even the 3rd rotation as they were developing Ross, Bolton, RCD and English plus Pickett once he was fit and Mav Weller also spent considerable time there as a senior VFL regular, and that isn’t even including their VFL guys.
If you’re chucking Brown to bring Townsend in, its a poor call.
Pretty good video, I say get him. Great attitude, tough as nails, VFL best and fairest winner, AFL premiership player. Who else are you going to get that’s better on minimum wage for the last spot on your list?
He’s better than the player we’ve gotten rid of so that’s a positive step. He’ll help us more than some people think, desperately missing the tough inside grunt.