Townsend to ‘narrow focus’ as finals loom
CO-CAPTAIN Chad Townsend says he will learn from his experiences with the Cronulla Sharks as the Cowboys seek a first NRL finals spot since 2017.
Townsend was part of the Cronulla Sharks side which won the 2016 grand final against the Melbourne Storm.
The Sharks’ run into finals was a bit patchy, however, as they drew with the Titans, and had losses to the Raiders, Dragons and Rabbitohs from
rounds 21-24. Townsend was hoping to put what he had learned from that season into this campaign, with the Cowboys aiming to secure a topfour spot with six games remaining.
“There’s no doubt the Cowboys are aiming for a top-four spot,” he said.
“We (Cronulla) probably had our eyes too far ahead of what was to come.
“So, for me, it’s just about trying to narrow your focus.
“Our coaching staff here have done an incredible job with that just really trying to focus it on each day.”
Townsend admitted the Cowboys had not been at their best over the past four weeks, conceding 26 points in each of those games and coach Todd Payten had them working hard on how to improve their defensive frailties this week.
“Defence has kind of been the flavour of the week for us,” he said.
“We want to improve. Our last month hasn’t been great.
“But we’ve been able to jag some wins with players missing. I guess that’s the sign of a good football team when you can win and win ugly.”
Reuben Cotter is set for a return this week and Jordan
Mclean in the next couple of games, but Townsend warned that their return would not guarantee victories.
“They will definitely add a lot of punch to our side,” he said.
“But in saying that, just because we get players back doesn’t mean that we’re guaranteed to win or play well. So, we still need to do our job and those guys, when they come back into the side will need to do their job for us to continue to build towards the back end of the season.”