ALL-TIME GREAT
Thurston inspires Cowboys to victory in final match
TYPICAL Johnathan Thurston. The champion couldn’t help but leave us with one final act of magic.
Thurston won’t finish with a premiership ring but North Queensland’s greatest player walked into retirement victorious after orchestrating a superb comeback defeat of the Titans last night at Robina.
Before a 26,681 sellout at Cbus Super Stadium, Thurston delivered his parting gift of genius, summoning every strand of his competitive fire to turn an 18-6 deficit into a 30-26 triumph in his NRL farewell.
With his good mate Cameron Smith watching on in the stands, Thurston looked to be departing a loser as the Titans clung to a 20-18 lead in the 70th minute.
But in his 323rd and final game, Thurston had one last ace up his sleeve.
The Cowboys No.7 produced the crosskick for Gavin Cooper to touch down and when Gideon Gela-Mosby took an intercept six minutes from time, Thurston had his dream ending of sorts.
Goodbye JT. After 294 games for the Cowboys, 29 for Canterbury, 38 Tests, 37 Origin matches and 2222 career points, North Queensland’s king has left the building.
It may have been a Titans home game, but the narrative at Robina was all about JT.
It is a measure of Thurston’s contribution to the code, and his affection with the common man, that his presence alone last night attracted an extra 15,000 fans to Cbus Super Stadium.
A jam-packed crowd lapped up the pre-match celebrations. Thurston made a slow walk onto the Robina pitch with his three young daughters before stopping to greet wife Samantha and proud parents Debbie and Graham.
As he stopped for a family photo, his 16 Cowboys teammates each ran out in headgear matching Thurston’s own.
It was beautiful stuff and should have been the preamble to a Thurston masterclass. There was just one problem: the Titans weren’t interested in any romantic, fairytale script.
In the seventh minute, the very minute in which the crowd rose as one to applaud the Cowboys No.7 for his wonderful career, the warm applause was rudely interrupted by Titans young gun AJ Brimson, who burst through a gap and touched down to steal Thurston’s thunder.