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Silver Ferns LIVE from 9pm"Give yourself an upper cut": Townend's message for toxic trolls
Emily Benammar • October 22nd, 2025 10:48 am
Social media’s role has become fantastic and toxic in the same breathe, according to Chad Townsend who has issued some sobering advice for young NRL players and athletes on how to handle the hate and trolls.
The 34-year-old, who announced his retirement form NRL in July this year, is a long-time vocal advocate for highlighting the dangers and pitfalls of social media and ensuring athletes are equipped to handle what comes with having an online presence.
No stranger to being on the receiving end of hateful abuse, Townsend has repeatedly called for social media giants to be on the hook for more accountability about what happens on their platforms.
Offering advice and some actions people can take to better protect themselves based on his experience, he joined Andrew Voss as co-host on SEN 1170 Breakfast and highlighted the evolution of social media since he started playing.
“When I made my debut Instagram and Facebook was only just beginning,” he said. “Social media is fantastic in one breath and toxic in another. You're so accessible and everyone has an opinion.
“One thing I learned when I was at the Warriors; we had a workshop day and the head of Twitter came to see us. He spoke about settings you can use to change, block or mute certain words.
“All platforms have this. His advice to us was to mute the words you can think of. The words starting with F, C, or maybe pass, catch or kick. Anything you think people might use against you.
“The if someone ran a comment with one of those words on my page, you see it there, I don’t get notified of it and no one else sees it. You’re sitting there thinking I’ve written this comment but no one else can see it.
“He also said turn direct messages off. I only turned them on when I retired. When someone wants to contact me, if they need to they can without a DM. We have seen how vile it gets when for example multis don’t come off or the racism is disgusting.”
During his time with Cronulla Sharks, Townsend spearheaded advice sessions with other players to show them how they could limit the abuse coming their way.
His then teammate Aaron Woods quit his platforms because of abuse he copped from people gambling.
So what would he say to 18-year-olds coming into the game?
“Social media is now a way of life,” Townsend continued. “It will be part of my kid’s lives but how can I protect them but be understanding of its role?
“It’s the way we communicate these days. I’m ok with the banter and the talking a bit of smack, but the vile bullying, from people at school or towards athletes etc, I’m not ok with that.
“If you have a fake account, the stuff people write they need to give themselves an upper cut.
“I’ve always used social media. I try to use it to my advantage. Players use social to give fans an insight. If you want to bag them then they will go back into their shell.
“I would say to young players, mute and block the words you need to and don’t engage with the negativity. Don’t like it, don’t reply to it, totally ignore it.
“Engage with the positive. Stay away from then negative. If you reply, they will screenshot it, they share it with friends.”
