Chad Townsend
Personal information
Full nameChad Townsend
Born (1991-01-10) 10 January 1991
Caringbah, New South Wales, Australia
Height181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight87 kg (13 st 10 lb)
Playing information
PositionHalfback, Five-eighth
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2011–13 Cronulla Sharks 19 3 28 0 68
2014–15 New Zealand Warriors 41 5 14 1 49
2016–21 Cronulla Sharks 127 25 112 10 334
2021 New Zealand Warriors 5 0 3 0 6
2022– North Qld Cowboys 50 4 10 6 42
Total 242 37 167 17 499
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2016–17 NSW City 2 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]
As of 2 September 2023

Chad Townsend (born 10 January 1991) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who co-captains and plays halfback for the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League (NRL).

He previously played for the Warriors and for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks over two separate spells in the NRL. Townsend has also played at representative level for NSW City and the Prime Ministers 13. He was part of the Cronulla team that won their maiden premiership title in the 2016 season, the only local junior player in that team.

Background

Townsend was born in Caringbah, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Playing career

Early career

Townsend played his rugby league for the Yarrawarrah Tigers in the Cronulla-Sutherland local rugby league competition. During his junior football he was a part of 7 premiership teams.[2]

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks

After being signed by the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Townsend made his debut in round 13 of the 2011 NRL season. In his first match, played against the Brisbane Broncos, he managed to convert two tries scored by fellow players Jon Mannah and Colin Best in the 40th and 80th minutes respectively.[3] As a result of the injury of Albert Kelly early in the season and the subsequent poor performance of Cronulla's other half options, Townsend was given the opportunity to play in the NRL, after his good form in the Toyota Cup competition. He scored his first try in round 17 against the Rabbitohs. The Sharks won that game 26 – 4.[4] Townsend represented the Junior Kangaroos in 2011 and the NSW under 18s and NSW CHS.

Townsend playing for the Sharks-Storm team in 2012

On 22 September 2013, Townsend was named at halfback in the 2013 New South Wales Cup Team of the Year.[5]

On 6 October 2013, Townsend was part of the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks side which defeated Windsor Wolves 38–6 in the NSW Cup Grand Final.[6]

New Zealand Warriors

Townsend joined the New Zealand Warriors for the 2014 NRL season, where he partnered Shaun Johnson in the halves.

The New Zealand Warriors missed the finals in both seasons that Townsend was at the club.[7]

Return to Cronulla-Sutherland

It was announced in July 2015 that he would return to Cronulla-Sutherland in 2016 on a two-year contract.[8]

On 2 October 2016, Townsend was part of the Cronulla-Sutherland side which won their first ever premiership defeating Melbourne 14–12 in the grand final.[9]

In 2017, Townsend was part of the Cronulla side which qualified for the finals but were eliminated in week one losing to North Queensland 15–14 in a shock defeat. In 2018, Townsend kicked the winning field goal for Cronulla in their week two elimination final against Penrith. The following week, Cronulla fell short of a grand final appearance losing to Melbourne 22–6 in the preliminary final.[10][11][12] In 2019, Townsend was named Cronulla's player of the year. In 2020, Townsend was named in the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks team of the decade. In round 17 of the 2020 NRL season, Townsend became the third player of the year to be sent off after he hit Newcastle player Kalyn Ponga with a shoulder charge.[13]

Townsend played 12 games for Cronulla in the 2020 NRL season as the club finished 8th and qualified for the finals. He played in Cronulla's elimination final loss against Canberra.[14]

On 21 April 2021, Townsend signed a three-year deal with the North Queensland Cowboys starting in the 2022 season.[15]

Return to the New Zealand Warriors

On 23 June 2021, it was announced that Townsend would leave the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks to return to the New Zealand Warriors for the remainder of the 2021 NRL season, with the short-term deal not affecting his 2022 deal with the North Queensland Cowboys.[16]

In round 16, Townsend played his first game for the New Zealand Warriors since his return to the club, playing at halfback against the St. George Illawarra Dragons. New Zealand would go on to lose the game 19–18,[17] and to make matters worse Townsend picked up a shoulder injury, putting him out of play for an estimated 6–8 weeks.[18]

North Queensland Cowboys

In round 1 of the 2022 NRL season, Townsend made his club debut for North Queensland in their 6–4 defeat against Canterbury at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium.[19] Townsend played 26 matches for North Queensland in the 2022 NRL season as the club finished third on the table and qualified for the finals. Townsend played in both finals matches including their preliminary final loss to Parramatta.[20] In round 1 of the 2023 NRL season, Townsend kicked a field goal with five minutes remaining to seal a 19–18 victory over Canberra.[21] Townsend played 24 games for North Queensland in the 2023 NRL season as the club finished 11th on the table.[22]

Statistics

Season Team Matches Tries G GK FG Pts
2011 Cronulla-Sutherland 11 2 19 46
2012 3 1 8 20
2013 5 1 2
2014 New Zealand Warriors 19 3 14 40
2015 22 2 9
2016 Cronulla-Sutherland 27 7 6 41
2017 25 6 2 29
2018 27 5 62 148
2019 12 6 7 41
2020 11 4 12
2021 11 31 63
2021 New Zealand Warriors 5 3 6
2022 North Queensland[23] 26 2 4 17
2023* 18 1 5
Totals 236 37 166 16 496

*denotes season competing

References

  1. ↑ Chad Townsend rugbyleagueproject.org
  2. ↑ "Chad Townsend – Cronulla Sharks". Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  3. ↑ "NRL Game Report | NRL Live Scores | 2012 NRL Live Scores & Results | thetelegraph.com.au". Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  4. ↑ "Sharks Wrap up Promising Youngsters – Cronulla Sharks". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  5. ↑ "2013 NSWRL.com.au VB NSW Cup Team of the Year – Announcement – New South Wales Rugby League". Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  6. ↑ "Cronulla Sharks overpower Windsor Wolves to claim NSW Cup title". 6 October 2013.
  7. ↑ "Warriors 2015 season review". nrl.com. 7 September 2015.
  8. ↑ "Chad Townsend Leaves Warriors for the Sharks | Triple M NRL". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Townsend savours Sharks' premiership win – NRL.com". Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  10. ↑ "Moylan and Lewis come back to haunt Panthers". 14 September 2018.
  11. ↑ "LIVE: Storm and Sharks go head-to-head". 21 September 2018.
  12. ↑ Perry, Sam (10 September 2017). "Cowboys beat Sharks in NRL elimination final – as it happened". The Guardian.
  13. ↑ "Cronulla Sharks' Chad Townsend sent off for shoulder charge on Kalyn Ponga". foxsports.com.au. 4 September 2020.
  14. ↑ "Wighton, Williams spark Raiders comeback as Sharks finals hopes ended". foxsports.com.au. 3 October 2020.
  15. ↑ "Townsend leaving Sharks to join Cowboys on three-year deal". nrl.com. 21 April 2021.
  16. ↑ "Townsend switches from Sharks to join Warriors for rest of season". nrl.com. 23 June 2021.
  17. ↑ "'THE GREAT ESCAPE!': Ultimate redemption as unwanted star seals crazy comeback". 2 July 2021.
  18. ↑ "Warriors cop double blow as Raiders fullback curse strikes again: Casualty Ward". Fox Sports. 7 July 2021.
  19. ↑ "Canterbury Bulldogs edge North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville, Parramatta Eels beat Gold Coast Titans". msn.com.
  20. ↑ "'See it in their eyes': The late-season pact and 'massive sacrifice' behind Eels surge". foxsports.com.au. 23 September 2022.
  21. ↑ "Townsend comes up clutch as Cowboys' 'slick' spine thwarts Raiders' epic comeback: Big Hits". foxsports.com.au. 4 March 2023.
  22. ↑ "NRL 2023: North Queensland Cowboys season review". www.sportingnews.com.
  23. ↑ "Official NRL profile of Chad Townsend for North Queensland Cowboys | NRL.com". National Rugby League.
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