It’s been a satisfying week for Chad Townsend, who capped off a maiden senior representative camp with a big Country-City win at Tamworth. The KARI City Origin and Cronulla Sharks halfback was on song at Scully Park, combining well with Aidan Sezer and being a constant presence in attack. The 25-year-old has downplayed his Origin chances, however, simply aiming to continue focusing on the smaller details of his game.
“I don’t know if I had my best game tonight,” Townsend told NSWRL.com.au. “I just tried to focus on the little things and my focus now is to just go back and play good footy for the sharks. If anything else comes in front of that, it’s just an added bonus for me.”
You would be forgiven for thinking Townsend was ineligible for NSW Origin selection, such has been the small media interest he has attracted in the year to date. The Yarrawarrah Tigers junior, however, has been outstanding in a high-performing Sharks side and may be considered one of the most underrated halves in the NRL.
Having played off the brilliance of Shaun Johnson for the Warriors last year, there can be no doubt that Townsend returned to the Sutherland Shire a better footballer – a patch of form that delivered him his first senior representative jumper this week. The consistent number seven believes he’s better for the experience.
“It’s my first time playing (Country-City) so it was a good experience for me – and a couple of new boys that I’ve never met before and that I haven’t played with,” Townsend said. “it’s been a good week, no one gave us a chance at the start of the week and we came together and had a great week at training.
“it was just good to finish it off with a good win.”
With just one week to prepare for the clash, representative camps can be difficult at the best of times – let alone for debutants in a supposedly understrength team. Townsend, however, kept things simple with his halves partner.
“Obviously we didn’t have too much time to work on it,” Townsend said. “We sort of spoke during the week about just keeping it as simple as possible, sort of link up when we can and make sure we always stay in contact.”
“Tonight I think we got the boys around the park reasonably well and scored a couple of points, which was pleasing.”
With Rep Weekend out of the way, Townsend’s focus now remains firmly set on continuing good personal and team form for the Sharks.
“We’ve got two games and then we’ve got a bye,” Townsend said. “Some guys have had a week off and some guys have played, so we’ve sort of been away from each other. It’s important to come back and get those combinations going straight away like we have been going in the previous weeks.”
If that happens, as the Rugby League cliché goes, a potential representative honour might just take care of itself.
