THURSTON’S FUTURE TOP OF TONNER’S AGENDA
FIGHT OF HIS LIFE
CLINCHING a future at the Cowboys for Johnathan Thurston is a priority for the club’s new chief executive.
Greg Tonner, an information technology and telecoms executive who started last week as Cowboys CEO, has Thurston’s future towards the end of his playing career and in retirement prominently placed on his to- do list.
Thurston will be 34 when his contract ends in 2017 and said last month he had spoken with coach Paul Green about whether he would play one more year in 2018.
The greatest Cowboys player said he had more interest in retirement in being a coaching consultant rather than a coaching staff member at one club, but Tonner wants to keep the champion playmaker in Townsville.
“Johnathan is very much part of this club and working out the right plan for him is definitely a priority for all of us, I believe,’’ Tonner told the Townsville Bulletin yesterday.
“Working out Johnathan’s future and how he continues his services or we work with him in his post- playing career is on the agenda. He willingly gives his time in our community and that’s why he’s respected in the region.’’
Tonner joins the Cowboys well into a process in which chairman Laurence Lancini and outgoing CEO Peter Jourdain have been trying to get Townsville’s proposed multisports stadium near the CBD over the line.
Jourdain said in May that the stadium, projected initially to open in 2020, could not now be completed before 2021 because of delays in the process of working with levels of gov
ernment.