No Johnson and Leuluai as halves, no NRL title.

[Albert Rosenfeld]

Isn't it as plain as day that not only do the Warriors need to have Johnson playing, but they also need to be unburdened of the dopey five eighth Chad Townsend?

Townsend last week kept kicking on the 5th tackle to Lachlan Maranta, even though Maranta was taking the kicks with the greatest of ease. This week he couldn't kick the ball into the in goal area: it mostly went over the dead ball line, and on one crucial occasion hit the touch line on the full. Townsend is clueless and incompetent.

Leuluai by contrast is a good field kicker (though not as good as Johnson) and knows where to place the ball on the 5th tackle. He is also a much more dangerous attacking runner of the ball. He is the perfect complement to Johnson.

Get rid of Townsend, and put Leuluai alongside the dynamic Johnson, and the Warriors will have a shot at the title.

 

[jamaman]

When Thomas is fitter Chad won't be there!

 

[Iron Lion]

Chad will be there as they have offered him a new 3 year deal.

I agree - last 2 weeks Townsend has not looked the goods.

 

[Big Marn]

Kind of agree
Chad is ok at doing certain things. like passing to Matulino close to the line etc but the last 2 weeks havent been his finest moments. Kind of got found out yesterday I thought.

 

[SilentOne]

Leuluai was awful yesterday and against the Broncos, he stunted our attack when he was on the field.

 

[JJ]

Not sure why you have a pathological need to start threads Albert...

No team ever wins the NRL with Leuluai in the halves, period... probably Townsend too

 

[vvvrulz]

Isn't it as plain as day that not only do the Warriors need to have Johnson playing, but they also need to be unburdened of the dopey five eighth Chad Townsend?

Townsend last week kept kicking on the 5th tackle to Lachlan Maranta, even though Maranta was taking the kicks with the greatest of ease. This week he couldn't kick the ball into the in goal area: it mostly went over the dead ball line, and on one crucial occasion hit the touch line on the full. Townsend is clueless and incompetent.

Leuluai by contrast is a good field kicker (though not as good as Johnson) and knows where to place the ball on the 5th tackle. He is also a much more dangerous attacking runner of the ball. He is the perfect complement to Johnson.

Get rid of Townsend, and put Leuluai alongside the dynamic Johnson, and the Warriors will have a shot at the title.

You have some cool stories mate.

Its also obvious you don't really know squat about the Warriors.
So be gone with ye

 

[jaseg]

Have you been watching the same Chad as me? His 5th tackle options (vs Broncos) and kicking game (vs Manly) have been off in the past 2 weeks, but the Chad has been really good for us this year. I'm a huge TL fan, but I think the only way he's getting back in the team is either through injury, the bench or as a hooker (which now unfortunately seems unlikely).

As a side note, the small glimpse we had of Tui running at the line was very promising. He's still a ways off being a first team option, but when he gets there....

Wow.

 

[ozenzud]

Whether Albert is right or wrong, Townsend has been mud in the last 2 weeks and I can't say his kicking form cost the games, but they certainly contributed more than any other single player.

A kick that goes dead is a bad, bad play under the new rules and he must have done it 4 times?

I like TL. But he was well off the pace yesterday.

Hope SJ is not out for long. Mind you, he still has a bit to learn but is improving.

 

[hitman82]

Chownsend is simply holding the 6 jersey until Lolohea is ready for first grade. Within the next couple of years our spine will be:

1 Tomkins
6 Lolohea
7 Johnson
9 Leuluai (subbing with Friend or Havili)

 

[Izz]

As a side note, the small glimpse we had of Tui running at the line was very promising. He's still a ways off being a first team option, but when he gets there....

Wow.

Yep.

 

[sup42]

Townsend has been one of the most consistent players all season.

He is a perfect Foil for Johnson. He doesn't over play his hand when paired up with Johnson and he adds a nice balanced short kicking game to the Warriors.

People are forgetting Townsend is a very inexperienced NRL half.....less than fifty games...you don't know what you have till a hundred the cliche goes....well Chad isn't even half of that.

Shaun Johnson has two NRL seasons on Chad. Johnson has had some really poor games in his NRL lifetime....he too has needed time and experience to be the player he is this season.

Townsends kick selections in the last couple of games is in the context of being expected to play lead....this should never happen in a team with three Halves ( TL and Tomkins ).

TL is an awful field kicker of the ball, it is the one serious chink in his Armour...he has been around a long long time and it won't improve with age.

Lolohea will have to get better with his kicking to displace the 'pairing' of Johnson and Chad....together they kick well with Tomkins taking a small but important degree of pressure off both of them.

Chad will continue to have up and down games with his field kicking till he has had as many seasons as Johnson I think expecting more is unrealistic.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

The problem with Townsend is a) He's not French, b) He's not come from the SuperLeague.

You can bet if the roles were reversed with Townsend coming from SL and Tommy the Sharks that Albert Capdouze, rugby league's most revered international troll, would be singing a different tune.

As much as I like that we have TL and Tomkins playing for us, I almost wish we hadn't signed them. This fake French weirdo is next level annoying.

 

[vvvrulz]

The problem with Townsend is a) He's not French, b) He's not come from the SuperLeague. .

:lol: This.

Anybody sane knows that Townsend has been very good for us
Unfortunately this thread as no credibility whatsoever

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Really? A team can't win an NRL title without two of it's spine players? I'm stunned.

 

[WellsNZ]

The problem with Townsend is a) He's not French, b) He's not come from the SuperLeague.

Two of his best features.

 

[Auckland4ever]

Bonjour Monsieur Rosenfeld. Merci pour votre soutien des Warriors. Mais, laissez-nous tranquilles, s'il vous plaît. Vous etes poisse.

 

[Albert Rosenfeld]

Once again the 5th tackle kicking of Townsend has been appalling. He could have lost the game with his low trajectory 5th tackler kicking straight to a Sharks player. The annoying thing is that he does not learn from his mistakes: instead he keeps repeating them. He is a complete moron.

The sooner that Johnson is available the sooner that Townsend must be dropped. Leuluai is a much better choice.

 

[WithTheDawn]

Townsend looks so much better when Johnson is there, actually plays a great supporting role. I don't know what it is when SJ is out, but Chad just seems a really poor first option. I think yesterday in particular, TL as the experienced half should have taken more control of the game, but he totally went missing.

Friend probably had the worst game I've seen him play in a long time, so they might want to use TL as a backup hooker next week and keep the Chad in the halves. Not sure if you want to screw around with the formula too much this close to finals time, unless things really aren't working. The Chad has tended to play well with SJ there, so keep that combination I reckon, at least until TL starts to play better.

 

[attila_the_gorilla]

Just like to remind Albert Einstein that Johnson is well known for disappearing at the back end of tight matches. I thought Townsend was passable, the whole team lacked energy and attention to detail in attack.
I'd actually say that Hurrell is the most important player for us this season, if he's not there, I can't see us causing damage in the finals.