Chad Townsend heard all the pre-season talk that the Cowboys had stuffed up by signing him on a long-term deal that made little financial sense.
He also read predictions that had North Queensland near the bottom of the table after a disastrous 2021 campaign in which the club finished 15th and with the worst defence in the NRL.
But the veteran halfback and his teammates proved everyone wrong to finish one win away from second spot and a home final against Cronulla, the team that let him go, this weekend.
Some players shy away from the doubters, but Townsend says scepticism from earlier in the year has driven him to prove everyone wrong.
And he’s warned the haters that he’s kept the receipts and may even post them on social media if the Cowboys go all the way.
“I’ve got quite a few things saved on my phone,” the Cowboys halfback told the NCA NewsWire.
“I don’t speak about it or post about it, but it’s definitely motivating me. I know what a few people said about me and it did form part of my motivation for the season.
“I’ve looked at them throughout the course of the season. Every player is different with how they motivate themselves, and for me, this is something I’ve been able to use as fuel throughout the year.”
Townsend has turned out to be one of the buys of the season, with his experience allowing the younger guys like Tom Dearden to play their natural games in attack.
The 31-year-old said he felt no pressure making the move north from the Sharks – the team the Cowboys play this weekend – and a 2-3 start to the season did nothing to make him panic as outside noise started to intensify.
“We never spoke about it as a team, but from a personal perspective, I definitely heard what people were saying about us as a team and about me personally,” he said.
“It has spurred me to definitely prove a few people wrong and I feel like we’ve done that.
“For me, it was all about controlling the things that I could control like my work ethic, my training, my performances and my more leadership. I have continually strived to improve all of those things and I feel like the team and I have done that all year.
“We are where we are because of the work we’ve done and we’ve given ourselves an opportunity. Now we have to make the most of it.”
While Townsend is proud of everything his side has done this year, he takes extra satisfaction from finishing 2022 as the only team from Queensland to make the finals.
The Cowboys won all four of their games against the Broncos and Titans by a combined score of 140-48 and now have bragging rights for at least the next 12 months.
“I didn’t really understand how much it meant to Queensland until I got up there,” he said.
“When I was at my previous clubs, we had our local derbies, but this is different.
“We went 4-0 against the other Queensland teams in the local derbies and that was hugely satisfying for us.
“A lot of people in Queensland either support the Cowboys or the Broncos, so for us to finish where we did, it’s a huge achievement for our club to be the top team in the state.”
