Delisted #20: Jacob Townsend - Not offered a contract for 2021, off to the suns as a DFA

[yaco55]

Wallis played 63 in his first 8.

Continue to dig yourself in a hole - Wallis had an injury-affected career, especially in his earlier years - Wallis overall performances are at a higher level than Townsend - And Wallis wasn't delisted by two clubs.

 

[Seagrave_Holmes]

Being delisted from an AFL list twice says it all really. Hopefully a solid VFL player that could fill in if injuries permit.

 

[boncer34]

Continue to dig yourself in a hole - Wallis had an injury-affected career, especially in his earlier years - Wallis overall performances are at a higher level than Townsend - And Wallis wasn't delisted by two clubs.

First post here Yaco so not continuing anything. Interesting your first thought was to attack the poster and not the post.

 

[CBombers17]

Not sure what the plan is here? Begley to move into the middle? Its the sort if selection a team in their window would make - like where he's coming from - or a GC type totally lacking leadership.

If he's coming to show our blokes how to play hard then thats a laughable reflection on our group.

 

[owen87]

Not sure what the plan is here? Begley to move into the middle? Its the sort if selection a team in their window would make - like where he's coming from - or a GC type totally lacking leadership.

If he's coming to show our blokes how to play hard then thats a laughable reflection on our group.

He could probably play as an aggressive medium forward that offers some defensive work inside F50 and kicks straight.

Pretty much what our current medium forwards don’t do.

 

[ghostdog]

He could probably play as an aggressive medium forward that offers some defensive work inside F50 and kicks straight.

Pretty much what our current medium forwards don’t do.

Yep. He's replacing the Baguley role that filled in for Smith while he was injured. Bit taller is all.

 

[CBombers17]

He could probably play as an aggressive medium forward that offers some defensive work inside F50 and kicks straight.

Pretty much what our current medium forwards don’t do.

What position did you have Begley playing last season?

 

[JayDon]

Not sure what the plan is here? Begley to move into the middle? Its the sort if selection a team in their window would make - like where he's coming from - or a GC type totally lacking leadership.

If he's coming to show our blokes how to play hard then thats a laughable reflection on our group.

Yes, but required!!!

 

[owen87]

What position did you have Begley playing last season?

Assuming everyone is fit I don’t see Begley playing.

I’d say our full strength forward line is basically the below. We know Stringer, Fantasia and Tipungwuti will all do stints up the ground, plus there’s your interchange players.

I think Langford is a close fit for the Brown type role as a high half forward, Laverde and Townsend both more aggressive and a stronger physical presence, Snelling is a small, and Begley is somewhere between Laverde and Langford as a type.

Stringer - Daniher - (Townsend/Langford/Laverde/Begley/Snelling)
Fantasia - (McKernan/Stewart) - Tipungwuti

Townsend has the possibility of playing a defensive on-baller role in the way Langford can’t (He’s got the size but not the aggression, Townsend is basically a Myers type who’ll do the team things to free space for Merrett and Shiel.)

I think Townsend is a good rookie option for us, a mature body who we know will play team first football and offer a defensive presence wherever he is on the field. He’s also a decent mark and straight kick.

Laverde and Begley are probably competing with him for spots more than anyone else, Langford is a slightly different type, as is Snelling.

We’re certainly going to see guys like Guelfi, Langford, Laverde, Snelling, Begley and co pushed for selection this year; Cutler, Hibberd, Townsend, Phillips all come in as ready to go options and Brown is the only real player gone who played many games, plus Smith and Daniher both potentially available.

 

[CBombers17]

We are adding ordinary depth / discards as replacements for players who haven't developed but remain in the list. Hard to see how it wont work really.

 

[DERO]

Continue to dig yourself in a hole - Wallis had an injury-affected career, especially in his earlier years - Wallis overall performances are at a higher level than Townsend - And Wallis wasn't delisted by two clubs.

I reckon Sheeds would love Townsend for the same reason he loved Wallis.

 

[owen87]

We are adding ordinary depth / discards as replacements for players who haven't developed but remain in the list. Hard to see how it wont work really.

Eh Townsend was good enough to be depth in a premiership team across multiple finals.

Hardly the worst thing for us to take on as a rookie when he most likely will already know the Rutten / Caracella type of game plan so can offer a solid presence, attitude and depth for us.

If it forces Laverde, Langford and Begley to step up and show they’re better or be off the list then so be it.

 

[MarkJohnson#1]

Will play Rd1 next year.

 

[Logan88]

Finally a player that will put his head over the ball.

 

[Ceehook]

Towner - put head over the ball - tick
put head into opposition ribs - tick
uses the ball well - tick

T71 might have a go at me over this , but I thought opposition sides put some study into him after that stella end to 2017
and their 3rd talls were more accountable and it was enough to nullify him at AFL level , probably exposing his footy smarts at the level
he seemed to my eye be not tall enough for a serious KP option and not agile enough and defenders seem to match his pace on the lead or after loose ball
he then seemed to lose his confidence and went into his shell and was then a dead duck at AFL level

Back to VFL level and he was super effective

The bombers might be able to use him for a period , set a tone for physical hardness while a younger player develops a little more
and at the cost to them , thats fine

The way Towner has played when returning to the VFL is an absolute credit , so there shouldn't be any damage to Club culture at any level

will he play Rnd 1 or even play AFL at all ? I think that will depend on the form and fitness of others and the bombers have plenty of promising players in the VFL so it will be a traffic jam for spots in the top side

 

[Tiger71]

Towner - put head over the ball - tick
put head into opposition ribs - tick
uses the ball well - tick

T71 might have a go at me over this , but I thought opposition sides put some study into him after that stella end to 2017
and their 3rd talls were more accountable and it was enough to nullify him at AFL level , probably exposing his footy smarts at the level
he seemed to my eye be not tall enough for a serious KP option and not agile enough and defenders seem to match his pace on the lead or after loose ball
he then seemed to lose his confidence and went into his shell and was then a dead duck at AFL level

Back to VFL level and he was super effective

The bombers might be able to use him for a period , set a tone for physical hardness while a younger player develops a little more
and at the cost to them , thats fine

The way Towner has played when returning to the VFL is an absolute credit , so there shouldn't be any damage to Club culture at any level

will he play Rnd 1 or even play AFL at all ? I think that will depend on the form and fitness of others and the bombers have plenty of promising players in the VFL so it will be a traffic jam for spots in the top side

Just on Towna as a forward. He was fantastic in 17 but was good in the first half of 18. IMO what got him out of that spot, was simply towna has no other string to his bow, it also happened to butler. We had stack, bolton, and we brought lynch in this year. ALL IMO had an effect as we wanted to bring in a small, it was initially baker in 18 who had more strings to his bow, its the reason baker now plays back half, defensive HBF and forward. So IMO it was not that oppo worked him out ( he was still super dangerous because he hardly ever misses) it's just that we had a longer term view of our list

 

[Zach Package]

48 games in eight years strongly suggests Townsend can't consistently play AFL level footy - He's been let go by two clubs

Assess him on his merits, don’t assess him on the fact he got let go from the Giants in favour of the million top 10 draft picks that they had and got let go from the Tigers because they’re paying Lynch and Martin the GDP of a small African country and everyone not on their first contract that wasn’t absolutely essential has been punted.


Initial impression is that the major barriers he’ll face if he does actually want to play in the middle is running capacity and cleanliness on the deck. We know he’s going to block and chase and attack every contest like he’s shot out of a cannon but he’s not good enough for us to carry him if he’s not clean with it, even if it’s only 16-18 times a game.

Not concerned by his skill level given his decision tree will boil down to ‘backwards release handball’, ‘hoick forward by hand’ or ‘hoick forward by foot’, my concern is that he’s a tweener in the same way Matt Dea was a tweener. He’s someone that has basically every attribute you want from your gun key position players but they’re both 5 inches too short.

 

[table tennis]

Continue to dig yourself in a hole - Wallis had an injury-affected career, especially in his earlier years - Wallis overall performances are at a higher level than Townsend - And Wallis wasn't delisted by two clubs.

I can vividly remember as a kid, watching the magoos before the seniors, and Wallis played a lot of reserves footy. A lot!
Don't think injuries were that great a factor. More Sheedy saw something in him and persisted

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Townsend was only delisted by ONE club.

Townsend was TRADED to Richmond.

 

[eDPS]

Townsend was only delisted by ONE club.

Townsend was TRADED to Richmond.

Oh dear yaco55

 

[yaco55]

First post here Yaco so not continuing anything. Interesting your first thought was to attack the poster and not the post.

It was FIN who raised the name of Wallis and one other player being of similar ability to Townsend - I rebutted his opinion and then you added your two bobs worth - I'm not the only poster who has queried Townsend's recruitment.

 

[yaco55]

I reckon Sheeds would love Townsend for the same reason he loved Wallis.

Sheedy is on record as loving the way Townsend plays - Then again the great Tom hafey was an avid admirer of Steve Morris who wasn't AFL standard.

 

[yaco55]

Assess him on his merits, don’t assess him on the fact he got let go from the Giants in favour of the million top 10 draft picks that they had and got let go from the Tigers because they’re paying Lynch and Martin the GDP of a small African country and everyone not on their first contract that wasn’t absolutely essential has been punted.


Initial impression is that the major barriers he’ll face if he does actually want to play in the middle is running capacity and cleanliness on the deck. We know he’s going to block and chase and attack every contest like he’s shot out of a cannon but he’s not good enough for us to carry him if he’s not clean with it, even if it’s only 16-18 times a game.

Not concerned by his skill level given his decision tree will boil down to ‘backwards release handball’, ‘hoick forward by hand’ or ‘hoick forward by foot’, my concern is that he’s a tweener in the same way Matt Dea was a tweener. He’s someone that has basically every attribute you want from your gun key position players but they’re both 5 inches too short.

I am assessing him on his merits - He got early games at the Giants because he had a more developed body and also added hardness which has been a trait of GWS from day one - Yes, he was eventually surplus to requirements at GWS and moved on to Richmond - He only got into the best 22 at the tail end of 2017 because of injuries and struck a purple patch of form for a month - After being dropped after round 8 in 2018, he got back for one more game - The salary cap for a player of Townsend's ilk is irrelevant because these type of players only get 200K or a little more if he is lucky.

 

[yaco55]

I can vividly remember as a kid, watching the magoos before the seniors, and Wallis played a lot of reserves footy. A lot!
Don't think injuries were that great a factor. More Sheedy saw something in him and persisted

My original post about Wallis stated that he debuted at the age of 17 but wasn't ready for the rigors of AFL footy - It took him a few years for the 'penny to drop' but at the same time he had an injury ravaged career, especially his hamstrings.

 

[boncer34]

It was FIN who raised the name of Wallis and one other player being of similar ability to Townsend - I rebutted his opinion and then you added your two bobs worth - I'm not the only poster who has queried Townsend's recruitment.

Yep.

Thank you for now realising I'm not Fin.

Love you Yaco, never change.