Thurston chooses family ahead of NRL career

JOHNATHAN Thurston will miss one of the biggest games of his decorated NRL career, but the decision to choose family ahead of his personal sporting goals was an easy one.

“I did ask (whether I could play game three), and the advice they gave me was that I could, but if the tear gets any bigger than the quality of your life post-football isn’t going to be great,” Thurston, pictured, told Triple M Brisbane.

“I probably wouldn’t be able to pick my kids up and things like that.

“While I would love to be there for game three, I would prefer to be able to pick my kids up a thousand times over, so the decision was pretty easy.

“In the end, as much as I’m shattered, life after football is not far away. ”

The Cowboys co-captain has been forced to undergo surgery after re-injuring his shoulder in Queensland’s 18-16 State of Origin II win over NSW in Sydney on Wednesday.

While he kicked the winning conversion, the inspi- rational playmaker was clearly in pain throughout the match.

“I thought my shoulder was pretty solid. I obviously played the game against Parra and all the testing that I had to do strength-wise I’d passed with flying colours,” Thurston said.

“So in my mind, my shoulder was right to go and it was just one of those things.”