Five-time premiership hero Dermott Brereton rates Richmond battler Jacob Townsend as one of the toughest players in the AFL.
The almost forgotten Tiger recruit hit the headlines with his six-goal heroics in yesterday’s 104-point mauling of Fremantle.
It was the 24-year-old’s first senior game since Round 14 last year when he found out he was to be a late inclusion after arriving at the ground.
“He’s the toughest player playing AFL…there’s no one tougher,” Brereton told SEN’s The Run Home.
“He will do anything for you and anything asked of him.
“Hopefully the six goals sparks his career but it’s a pity he doesn’t have a touch more talent so that he is a 22-game a season player because he is such a wonderful young man.”
Brereton worked with Townsend while consulting to the GWS, who took the NSW product with a zone selection in 2011. He was traded to Richmond for a fourth-round draft pick the GWS did not utilise.
Townsend’s six-goal performance was two more than his career tally of four from his previous 32 matches.
After spending the entire 2017 languishing in the reserves the one-time defender replaced former Cat Josh Caddy who tore a hamstring in the Round 21 loss to Geelong.
Another strong performance on Sunday against St Kilda might be enough to secure the hard-nut a berth in the Tigers’ first final, potentially against Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval.
To do so would be some feat given Townsend has played only five senior games since joining the Tigers in 2016.