Cooper lauds JT’s toughness

AFTER every game Gavin Cooper’s old man lets him know how many tackles he’s made. On Wednesday night, it was 47.

All those were made beside a “bruised and battered” Johnathan Thurston as his Cowboys teammate bravely played on in agony with a crook shoulder.

Thurston justifiably got much of the plaudits in the 18-16 come-from-behind win, inspiring his troops with his mental strength to play on and boot the winning conversion under pressure.

But the feats of Cooper and fellow Cowboy Michael Morgan, who set up Dane Gagai’s match-winning try, shouldn’t be understated.

Cooper was enormous in his second Origin match for Queensland, complementing his defensive workload with 108m from 12 runs.

After losing his debut game in Origin III last year he was relieved he was able to do his part in keeping Thurston’s swansong series alive by helping Queensland recover from 16-6 down.

“He wasn’t coming off, he’d already missed one Origin,” Cooper said.

“It’s been spoken about for a while how resilient he is at any level, let alone Origin level. He plays well above his weight every time and gets hit without the ball quite a lot.

“To keep bouncing up and doing what he does is pretty special and the boys definitely get a kick when he’s being beaten and battered, but still comes up with the goods.”

Cooper said the Maroons were always confident they could hit back in the second half after a few near misses when they entered the Blues’ danger zone.

“We weren’t that bad in the first half, it was just two quick lapses back to back and we were down by 10,” he said.

“(Coach) Kevvie (Walters) wasn’t all that disappointed at half-time. We knew the points was going to come if we built some pressure.”

Cooper is set to play his 250th NRL match against one of his former teams Penrith in Townsville tomorrow.

It was also set to be Thurston’s 300th game, but injury looks set to to delay his milestone.

“You couldn’t have wrote the script any better, getting his 300th while becoming the highest-capped Cowboy (with 271) and me getting 250 at the same time,” Cooper said.

“It’s pretty special, especially with one of my best mates.

“It’ll be a special day and hopefully John’s there.”