Watching less footy is the key to Chad Townsend’s rise as Cronulla halfback
SWITCHING off the footy has proven to be just what Chad Townsend needed with the Cronulla star revealing watching less games has helped clear his mind and sharpen his form.
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THE secret to Chad Townsend’s stealth-like form-surge won’t please TV executives.
But it’s certainly keeping the Cronulla Sharks happy.
The halfback, chief engineer of Cronulla’s surge towards another grand final, will travel to Melbourne for a preliminary final at AAMI Park tomorrow night in the best form of his career.
After a crucial try and match-winning field goal last week against Penrith, Townsend’s astute kicking-game and confidence has increased on the back of a streamlined preparation he introduced six weeks ago.
Winning matches without attracting the hype and attention of rival playmakers, the 27-year-old’s revised preparation has included simply avoiding rugby league’s first-class wall-to-wall television coverage.
A self-confessed student of the game, who carries a note-pad and pen onto the field during training sessions, Townsend found that his love for watching every game was impacting his clarity before kick-off each week for the Sharks.
“About six weeks ago, I stopped watching a lot of footy,’’ Townsend said.
“I used to watch every game, every weekend and about six weeks ago, I stopped.
“We (Cronulla) might have been down to play on a Sunday afternoon.
“But by the time you’ve had Thursday night footy, Friday night footy, three games on Saturday, I then got to playing on Sunday and I probably didn’t have a clear head.
“But now - I’ve limited the amount of footy I’ve watched and it’s definitely helped me.
“I love footy and I love watching it, but not watching it has made me definitely focus more on our game and what I need to do for my team.’’
Switching from the NRL to his love of American sports or Netflix with wife Marissa, Townsend — who alongside Matt Prior is the only Sharks player to feature in every game this season — says he’s arriving to each game de-cluttered and clear on his match-day goals.
“I actually love watching other sports,’’ the 2016 premiership-winner said.
“I’m a big fan of other sports, I love my golf, basketball and NFL, so I’ll flick that on.
“Also, movies with my wife.
“If my little girl has gone to bed, we might stay up and watch a movie together and just not watch the footy.’’
“I’m feeling good at the moment, I’m confident and I purely put that down to my preparation and mindset going into games.
“It’s about what I need to do in this team and just evolving as a player.’’
That evolution continues tomorrow night against the Storm.
Townsend, who was defensively superb against Melbourne when the Sharks won 17-14 at AAMI Park last month, said the trip south was one of which his teammates craved.
“We’ve got the belief in this team that we can do something special this year,’’ Townsend said.
“We don’t fear Melbourne at all.
“We thrive on these match-ups. They’re a great team, but for us we know that we can go down there and do the job.
“We’ve got the confidence that we can do it.
“We are fully aware of what this group is capable of and the skill and the talent our squad has.
“We said at the start of the year we wanted to be a top four team, we’ve made the final four, but we’re not resting on our laurels.
“We’ve got big intentions to play well and move onto a grand final.’’
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