Thurston fired up for ‘ game of his life’
BEWARE a JT scorned.
That’s the warning to New South Wales from Cowboys teammate Justin O’Neill, who believes Johnathan Thurston is steeling himself for one of the games of his life in Sydney on Wednesday.
In essence it’s one of the biggest weeks of the champion halfback’s career, with the 34year- old to become the 29th player to play 300 games against Penrith in Townsville on Saturday. But first comes the task of keeping alive his dream of winning his swan song State of Origin series after NSW dominated Game One 28- 4.
Thurston missed the series opener with a shoulder injury and O’Neill will watch on this time as one of seven players dropped from the shell- shocked Maroons.
The four- time Dally M medallist fired a warning shot to the Blues with a superb performance in his return from injury against Parramatta last week, scoring a try and setting up three more.
“He’ll definitely be looking forward to it and can’t wait to get out there,” O’Neill said. “The amount of work Johnno’s done ( to get back from injury) shows how much Origin means to him and how much he wants to be there for the team.
“He’s done everything possible to get his body right. He had a great game going into camp against the Eels and he’ll be very professional in camp getting himself right.”
An Origin dumping is a bitter pill for anyone, but O’Neill is focusing on the positives.
Being away from the spotlight at club level has allowed him to work on his game and he was one of the Cowboys’ standouts in Saturday’s 23- 22 golden point loss to Melbourne at AAMI Park.
The Storm scored three tries in six minutes midway through the second half, and a late Cowboys rally fell just short after Melbourne rookie Brodie Croft nailed the decisive field goal.
“I guess it’s a good way to look at it. A positive I can take out of it is I can focus on my game now at club level,” he said.
“They got a roll on with a couple of breaks infield and it cost us in the end.
“They went back- to- back tries and we gave away penalties at the kick- off and it took a bit to get back into the game.”
At 26, O’Neill has time on his side to revive his representative career and former Queensland and Cowboys centre Paul Bowman has no doubt he will wear maroon again.
The Cowboys had plenty of joy down the Storm’s left edge, with O’Neill laying on the game’s opening try for winger Kyle Feldt.
“It’s very tough for anyone, no one likes getting dropped at any level but I think he answered his critics a bit tonight with the way he played, he was one of our best,” Bowman said.
“He’s just got to put his head down and I’m sure he’ll get another chance.”