JT back to haunt the Blues at Origin

Thurston may help coach

Johnathan Thurston could be back to haunt the Blues this year – as part of Kevin Walters’ Queensland coaching staff for the State of Origin series.

The champion Cowboys halfback has retired from representing the Maroons, after 37 matches and 11 series wins, to commit to North Queensland in his final NRL season.

Thurston exited the Origin arena as a hero last year, a series that was also the last for 22-game halfback Cooper Cronk.

However Thurston will be offered the chance to be back wearing Maroon this year in a consultancy role for Walters, much like Billy Slater in the 2016 series.

Thurston, who returns to the field tonight after a 241-day absence, confirmed he would take up the position if it did not affect his Cowboys commitments.

“Certainly, if Kevvie asks me to do that,” he said.

“Kevvie rings me for advice throughout the season anyway. Whenever he calls I always answer and give him my honest opinion on what he’s asking.

“It would depend on the Cowboys (allowing me to join the Queensland camp).

“(Coaching) does interest me, but I’ve got no desire to be a (head) coach at this stage of my life.”

Slater played a hands-on role in the Maroons set-up during Queensland’s 2016 series victory while he was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Thurston kept last year’s series alive for Queensland with a clutch sideline conversion despite carrying a seasonending shoulder injury that cut his Origin career prematurely and saw him miss the decider.

The 34-year-old joined Camp Maroon briefly before the decider, but his influence will be much stronger this year if he spends more time coaching on the training paddock.

Thurston has an agreement with the Cowboys to focus solely on North Queensland’s 2018 premiership campaign, prompting his retirement from representative football.

But the Cowboys have a favourable draw in the Origin period, paving the way for Thurston to be involved in Maroons camps without disrupting North Queensland.

Walters, entering his third series as coach, confirmed he would look to bring Thurston in.

“Certainly, particularly from a mentoring and coaching point of view,” he said.

“He was great last year for us. If you can’t have him on the field we can at least get him involved in some capacity.

“We will have some younger halves coming through, whoever that’s going to be, and he will be a great source of information and mentoring for them.”

Cronk, now at the Sydney Roosters, also could join the Maroons camp at some time throughout the series to help a new halves combination.

Walters has appointed former Maroons centre Josh Hannay as an assistant.