The Melbourne hooker helped pilot his side to a Grand Final appearance as the Storm downed Canberra 14-12 on Saturday night in the Victorian capital – the flawless way to celebrate halfback Cooper Cronk’s 300th NRL game.
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Townsend scored a crucial first-half try, nearly scored another and put Luke Lewis over in the 52nd minute to seal passage through to the decider.
But first his Sharks must overcome the Cowboys in tonight’s grand-final qualifier at Allianz Stadium.
The Sharks’ freshness was evident from the off, penning the Cowboys back inside their own half.
Quite simply the Cowboys were blown off the park early, as fatigue set in as a result of last week’s 90-minute epic against Brisbane, as their quest for back-to-back titles came to an end.
Townsend bounced back from his shocker against Canberra a fortnight ago when he was hooked by coach Shane Flanagan, scoring one try, going close on another occasion and setting up another.
James Maloney dives over the try-line to score one of his two tries, among his haul of 20 points, in Cronulla’s 32-20 victory over North Queensland.
And when they found space on the left side, Sosaia Feki crossed in the corner before a botched Kyle Feldt dropout gifted Maloney another two points. This is despite the Cowboys losing their preliminary final against Cronulla on Friday night.
Townsend’s halves partner James Maloney never doubted he would bounce back.
Not that the 25-year-old read any of it.
However, he had been anything but in the final against Canberra, struggling in defence and failing to provide direction in attack. “His passing has been crisp and decisive”, Peter Sterling said Channel Nine. 14 – 0 to the Sharks.
But that is all a sidenote in the Sharks’ charge to a their fourth decider in their 50-year history.
In the final 10 minutes, Feldt doubled up and Coen Hess crossed to improve the scoreline, but the damage was well and truly done.
“If not, I have had a great run, I have had a great time here and have some great memories”.
The Cowboys were high-fiving when the Sharks opted to take the penalty goal after 17 minutes, out on their feet after a blistering start from the hosts.
“Once they got that lead, they just strangled us and that’s semi-final football”, the four time Dally M Medal victor said.
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“In the finals you need to be playing your best footy and we were far from that and they didn’t allow us to play that”.
