Talk of the Town: Chad Townsend’s first column of 2023

In the first Talk of the Town of the season, Cowboys co-captain Chad Townsend breaks down why the team was so successful in the game against Canberra.

I am excited to be back for my weekly column throughout the season. This will be a column where I go into detail and analyse our game from the previous week.

This weeks column I am going to recap our Round 1 win against the Canberra Raiders.

NRL pre season is one of the physically and mentally tough things that you can do. It is extremely long days with up to 4 training sessions per day. Throw in the NQLD heat and it makes it even harder. We started with a much higher base this pre season. Our whole group has been together with our coaches for well over 12 months now and we understand the expectations and the DNA in which our coaches expect us to play.

Cowboys celebrate a Scott Drinkwater try during the round one NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Canberra Raiders at Qld Country Bank Stadium on March 04, 2023 in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

For the Raiders game we were well prepared. We had all summer to prepare for this game. Going into the game we spoke a lot about defence and wanting to defend our line for as long as we could. We also spoke about showing patients with the ball and not trying to score all the time but instead building pressure with repeat sets and tiring out the Raiders to score some points at the back-end of the game.

Scott Drinkwater of the Cowboys celebrates after scoring a try during the round one NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Canberra Raiders at Qld Country Bank Stadium on March 04, 2023 in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

The first half was some of the most controlled and most exciting football I have seen us play. One of the plays that pleased me the most was Scott Drinkwater’s try off Reece Robson’s kick. Reece and Scott have practised this play all summer long so it was great for both of these guys get rewarded.

It wasn’t until the very end of the first half that the Raiders finally got some possession from our error and they managed to score a late try. This was disappointing heading into half time nonetheless we were happy with an 18-6 scoreline.

At half time Todd spoke about the importance of ball security and making sure we complete.

Reece Robson of the Cowboys passes the ball during the round one NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Canberra Raiders at Qld Country Bank Stadium on March 04, 2023 in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

We went out there and we did the complete opposite. This then forced us to do a heap of try line defence and carting the ball out of our own end. The Raiders managed to capitalise from all of the possession into 2 quick tries and just like that the scoreline was locked at 18 all.

This is where our training comes to the forefront of our performance. Our coaches have put us in these positions all summer long. We train under scoreboard pressure, we train under time pressure, we are forced to make crucial decisions that have big consequences at training and that is why we were able to get ourselves back into the game and a crucial win.

If you watch the game back you’ll notice at the scrum after the Raiders error Scott, Tom, Reece and I getting together to talk about what we needed. We needed a field goal to go in front. You’ll also see Reece directing traffic to the left post which is where we wanted our field goal shot to take place. We didn’t want to wait until last, we got to the position and with a crisp pass out in front I was able to nail it. Just like training. You play how you train, and that is why training is so important.

I look forward to seeing you all at a game this season.