Jacob Townsend is Richmond’s first Homecoming Hero for the 2022 season.
The Tigers are set to pay tribute to Townsend in the lead-up to Sunday afternoon’s Round 2 clash with Greater Western Sydney at the MCG.
Townsend will walk to the Punt Road end of the ground, where he’s bound to receive a rousing ovation from the Tiger Army.
He’ll kick a ceremonial goal, then sign the football and present it to a Richmond fan in the crowd.
Highlights of Townsend’s playing career with the Tigers also will be shown on the MCG’s big screens.
Jacob Townsend was recruited by Richmond from rival AFL club Greater Western Sydney, where he had played 28 games across four seasons (2012-15).
The Tigers secured Townsend’s services in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick during the 2015 AFL trade period.
He made his debut for Richmond in Round 1, 2016 against Carlton at the MCG, but managed only four games all-up that season in the senior side.
Townsend had to wait 14 months for his next senior appearance with the Tigers – and to say he made the most of that opportunity would be a considerable understatement!
After dominating at VFL level throughout the 2017 season as a midfielder, Townsend was recalled to Richmond’s AFL team for the Round 22 clash with Fremantle at Domain Stadium, replacing injured forward Josh Caddy.
Coach Damien Hardwick provided some simple pre-game advice to Townsend . . .
“Righto ‘Towna’, all you need to do is go out there and kick six and you’ll stay in,” Hardwick said.
Townsend duly obliged, scoring six goals (6.1) in a dynamic display up forward as the Tigers crushed Fremantle by 104 points.
The following weekend, in the final round of the 2017 home-and-away season, Townsend booted five goals (5.0) in the team’s 41-point victory over St Kilda at the MCG.
Richmond had clinched a place in the final four for the first time since 2001, and Towna had clinched his place in the line-up for the September campaign.
He proceeded to play a vital role for the Tigers as a defensive forward throughout that magical finals series.
With his tough, physical, combative, pressure-packed playing style, Townsend made life hell for the opposition’s backmen in Richmond’s three finals, much to the utter delight of the Tiger Army.
They loved the way Towna constantly put his body on the line for the team and embraced him as a cult hero.
Townsend kicked two goals in the Tigers’ qualifying final victory over Geelong, one goal in the preliminary final win versus his former club Greater Western Sydney, and two goals in the glorious, drought-breaking Grand Final triumph over Adelaide.
Along with those couple of Grand Final goals were five tackles, including a bone-crunching one on Crows midfielder Matt Crouch in the second quarter that was a truly memorable moment of the premiership-decider.
September 2017 was a huge month for Jacob Townsend, who received an AFL premiership medal and the J.J. Liston Trophy as the VFL competition’s best and fairest player.
Towna never reached those astonishing heights again during the rest of his time at Tigerland, and he departed the Club at the end of the 2019 season after playing in the VFL premiership team.
He subsequently briefly plied his football trade at both Essendon and Gold Coast. But it is as a Tiger that he will always be remembered.
What he achieved at the business end of the 2017 season is indelibly etched into the minds of Yellow and Black barrackers.
Jacob Townsend fact file
Date of birth: June 20, 1993
Height: 187cm
Weight: 89kg
Recruited to Richmond from: Greater Western Sydney (exchanged for a fourth-round draft pick in 2015 AFL trade period)
Guernsey number at Richmond: No. 21
Debut for Richmond: Round 1, 2016 v Carlton, MCG
Games at Richmond: 20
Goals at Richmond: 28
Honours at Richmond: Member of the 2017 AFL premiership team, member of the 2019 VFL premiership team, winner of the 2017 J.J. Liston Trophy, life membership of the Club in 2017
