If we lose this week, I reckon Hodkinson will be in.
Give Moylan time at No.6 and magic will come, says Townsend
Matt Moylan will remain Cronulla's five-eighth for the immediate future, despite the club's winless start to the NRL season, halfback Chad Townsend confident his fledgling combination with the fleet-footed ex-Panther is close to bearing fruit.
The Sharks have modified their game plan to accommodate Moylan, who was swapped for last year's No.6 James Maloney during the off-season, and the club's new halves pairing will chase their first success against a desperate Parramatta at ANZ Stadium on Saturday.
Townsend still runs the show in the Shire, but the days of playing one half either side of the ruck are no more.
As Townsend calls the shots and controls the kicking game, Moylan roams the field waiting for the perfect moment to inject himself into the attack.
"Matt, in my opinion, is a bit more of a free spirit where he likes to roam across every single part of the field from sideline to sideline, and I love that about him," Townsend said.
"I've always said he works best and he looks the most dangerous when he's aggressive with the ball in his hand, when he's taking on the line and when he's going and playing what he sees in front of him.
"That's not being stuck to a side. In our structure and our game plan he has a licence to roam wherever he wants to go, play whatever he sees and that's the most exciting thing with that.
"It was up to me to get Matty up to speed with how we play. He had some of his ideas about how he likes to play, and it was never about, 'This is how we do it here', we want him to play his style of football and Flanno [coach Shane Flanagan] has definitely accommodated him and how he likes to play because that's how I think we get the best out of him."
Townsend and Moylan combined superbly in the first half against St George Illawarra last weekend as the Sharks raced to a 14-0 lead before they were eventually pegged back by their bitter rivals.
And despite results not yet falling Cronulla's way, Townsend said it was only a matter of time before he and Moylan hit their straps.
"I wasn't expecting fireworks straight off; these things take time, but we don't have time, we've got to now really put our foot to the floor," Townsend said.
"I truly think that in the first half on the weekend we took a step in the right direction. We were controlled, we combined well together, we scored points, we had possession.
"Then in the second half we didn't have possession, we had ill-discipline and, in turn, Matt and myself didn't have a chance to show what we could do with the ball and control our game.
"Discipline comes [from] completing sets and then combinations come on the back of that."
For hooker Jayden Brailey, the arrival of Moylan has given him another dangerous option to swing the ball to from dummy half.
"He gives that off-the-cuff footy, you don't really know what he's going to do when you give him the ball," Brailey said. "When he calls the ball I'll look up and if it's on I'll make sure he gets the ball and I'll push up and support him.
"I remember coming up against him last year, he's one of those blokes you worry about on the other team and you highlight his name on the tip sheet."
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