Townsend is the extras king

Cronulla Sharks halfback Chad Townsend has emphatically showed he is more than capable of fulfilling the club's goal-kicking duties after his match-winning haul against the Eels with the boot.

Coach Shane Flanagan said Townsend has proven himself at training and has rightfully earned his place as the team's main kicker after scoring all of his team's points in Saturday's 14-4 win over Parramatta.

''He's applied himself at training and he's seeing the results at the moment,'' Flanagan said.

''Chad kicked as a kid and kicked a little bit in first grade for us before he went to the Warriors.

''He's come back and there's an opportunity open and him, Matty Moylan, Trent Hodkinson, Kyle [Flanagan] they've all worked really hard.

''I was always going to give it to whoever had the best percentages at training and Chad's had that and he really wants to be a first grade goal kicker.''

The poor conditions for ANZ Stadium's double header forced both sides to change their plan of attack, in which the Sharks out-muscled the Eels through the middle.

''The conditions were a little bit tricky there as well, it was slippery and wet,'' Flanagan said.

''You saw the [Rabbitohs-Sea Eagles] game before. It didn’t go outside too much.,'' he said.

''The whole team made adjustments. We knew we couldn't shift and obviously Parramatta made some adjustments as well.

''It wasn't an open game with a lot of shape and movement of the ball on the edges. It was played through the middle.''

Sharks centre Josh Dugan hobbled off the field with two minutes remaining but according to Flanagan it won't put him out of their clash against Melbourne at home in round four, in which he is expecting to see fellow five-eighth Matt Moylan return to the halves.

''I'm not quite sure what it was to be honest,'' he said.

''I was just told that Duges was going to come off. He seems fine in the dressing room so I haven’t checked on it but I don't think it's anything,'' he said.

''Moylan will be back in the halves if he's fit, which I'd expect him to be.''