As someone said. Our 2 just ex Richmond Coaches will be behind it, & they would be in the position to know.
They aren’t fking fools, … so you’d just have to back them in on this.
If not, … well, … ![]()
As someone said. Our 2 just ex Richmond Coaches will be behind it, & they would be in the position to know.
They aren’t fking fools, … so you’d just have to back them in on this.
If not, … well, … ![]()
8 years
48 games
10.1 disposals and 0.67 goals a game
Blitz: “He’s a gun big bodied hard edged midfielder forward!!!”
This joint is great.
From a literary perspective your comment is reminiscent of the opening sentence of Anna Karenina. Tolstoyesque Don1, Tolstoyesque.
I agree he’s a very good VFL player.
I’m with Noonan on this one.
ahh good to step into the myers role.
Absolutely. I’d say hard work and discipline will be what we are about in 2020 and also moving forward. Players of lesser ability but with greater work ethic and a team first attitude might be preferred over natural talent. Don’t mean to go too early on someone but I’ve got the feeling David Zaharakis might get a rude shock and find himself playing VFL next year…
I bet he doesn’t
Except no one has actually said that . . .
If Zaharakis had spent any significant time in the VFL he would have won the JJ Liston every blooody year. I think I’ve seen him play two such games, and they were both 35 disposals and 3 goals…
I’d rather like to think we might see Zaka’s best & hardest football of his career, … that he’ll get the vibe before the need for that to happen.
He’s in his prime, … and can see the light at the end of the tunnel looming. It’s often when a laid back type get’s their shitt together and cracks in harder for some glory before it’s over, … & the fear of injury also diminishes respectively.
(Edit: It actually begins about 27, … and if people are honest, … he’s been cracking in harder each year since, … )
We are soft as butter so players like this definitely have a roll in our mix.
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That’s basically what it boils down to.
Caracella when doing the opposition analysis on us for the past few years would have the view that we lack a hard edge, which we do.
Townsend’s acquisition would be about setting a tone and an example around non-negotiables that we want to uphold, as much as anything.
Hmmm, … I may have read his post the wrong way, … if so, … mea culpa. (…for millennials, … that means, …“My bad” )
Well… I do have the highest degree of human wisdom… but accidental, I’m sure.
I Enjoyed W&P, Anna Karenina is still to be checked off the list.
A lot of people are thinking this has to do with Cara and Truck. Turns our Richardson may be the biggest reason for his name being on our radar.
How Richmond scored Jacob Townsend for nothing
Sam McClure
Published: August 28 2017 - 8:00PM
Almost exactly two years ago – in round 23, 2015 – Jacob Townsend kicked a goal midway through the second quarter to give the Giants a five-point lead over Melbourne.
Two of the 8974 in the crowd at Etihad Stadium were Richmond’s head of footy, Dan Richardson, and list manager Blair Hartley. They were there specifically to watch Townsend, who they believed could be the answer to their needs for another inside midfielder.
Hartley wasn’t happy. He was worried the career-high 22 disposals Townsend amassed that day would cost them more in a trade.
In the end, they gave up a fourth-round pick that GWS didn’t use. They got him for free.
“It’s a credit to our recruiting team,” Richardson said. “Our scouting suggested he did have the capacity to go forward and find the goals; that game showed us he could play at the level.”
It was the fourth goal of his career and he didn’t kick another one at AFL level for nearly two years. He’s now kicked 11 in two weeks after defensive forward roles on Michael Johnson and Jake Carlisle.
Townsend is now in the box seat to walk out onto the MCG in front of a potential crowd of 90,000 in a qualifying final against Geelong.
He originally came into the team because of Josh Caddy’s injury, but it would seem unthinkable to drop Townsend now.
The man who helped find him at Greater Western Sydney, Kevin Sheedy, says he’s one of the toughest players he’s seen.
Sheedy said he couldn’t be happier that Townsend has managed to silence the doubters.
“Everybody has doubts early,” Sheedy said. "Unless you have super talent … they’re always ready to doubt you.
"He never had the speed to do it early, but I’ll tell you what, there won’t be any kid tougher at Richmond. He’s the toughest kid I coached at the Giants.
“He was a very good, tough young rugby kid who crossed over to the AFL. I have no doubt Mark Williams would have convinced Richmond to get him.”
For all of his Giants career, he was essentially used as a second-string inside ball winner, filling in for the likes of Callan Ward when required.
Townsend grew up in Leeton, a town in NSW’s Riverina region, a little more than 500 kilometres west of Sydney.
He would travel huge distances for games, before the Giants eventually relocated him to Blacktown in his final year of high school.
He played in the Giants’ TAC Cup team before being selected on their inaugural list for the 2012 season, where he played in the club’s first five games.
“He’s a beautiful young kid,” Sheedy said. “He’s honest, dedicated and he’s a listener; he takes it all in.”
At 187 centimetres and 89 kilograms, Townsend wasn’t the player Richmond expected to line up next to Jack Riewoldt as a second marking option.
Richardson admits even they have been a little surprised by the past two weeks, but also said his form in the VFL had been consistently excellent.
“He’s actually deceptively tall and deceptively strong,” Richardson said.
Dunlop summed it up beautifully - Townsend is a waste of a list spot.
I’m ok with this…not the worlds greatest player, but has a winning mentality from his time at Richmond and a hard edge, both things that we severely lack as a playing group.