JT recalls Folkes’ impact
HIS 300th game is days away but Johnathan Thurston’s thoughts were with the family of the man who handed him his first NRL jersey and instilled toughness into his game, after Steve Folkes’ death last week.
The passing of the Canterbury legend from a heart attack on Tuesday shocked the rugby league world, and Thurston described their relationship as a “special bond”.
F o l k e s , w h o c o a c h e d Canterbury for 11 years, gave a 19y e a r - o l d T h u r s t o n his first NRL chance against Penrith midway through the 2002 season.
Thurston would play just seven games in Canterbury’s 2004 premiership campaign, but one of those was off the bench in the grand final win over the Roosters.
The four- time Dally M medallist grew up being told he CRONULLA veteran Luke Lewis has implored the club to stick solid with Valentine Holmes at fullback, adamant the presence of Josh Dugan and Matt Moylan is more a benefit for him than a threat.
Conjecture has swirled around league circles how the new- look Sharks would accommodate the star recruits into their lineup. But Lewis said Townsville junior Holmes, who scored two tries from fullback in Cronulla’s trial win over Wests Tigers on Saturday, should be persevered with.
Moylan is expected to start at five- eighth and has been helping Holmes with his ball skills before Cronulla plays the Cowboys in Johnathan Thurston’s 300th NRL game on Friday.
“It’s actually good to have Dugan and Moylan in the side because when they’re at training, he learns off them,” Lewis said.
“Moysa ( Moylan) is really good at summing up three- on- two opportunities and working out the back. He’s been working with Val at training and his hands and skills, his positioning and sweep runs.
“Val’s learned a lot coming back from the Australian camp and being around Billy ( Slater).
“He’s still got a lot to learn but I think he’s got the potential to be a really good fullback.” was too small to make it in rugby league but credited Folkes and Canterbury’s hardnosed culture for developing his resilience.
“I remember being in his office when he told me he was going to play me off the bench in the 2004 grand final. It was very sad to hear of the news,” Thurston said.
“He epitomised what the Bulldogs culture was all about: hard working and pure toughness.
“That’s what he did with the teams he coached; you had to work hard and you had to be mentally and physically tough.
“We were never going to beat ourselves and he instilled that into the playing group which he was coach.
“He handed me my first NRL jersey, my first Bulldogs jersey, and gave me that opportunity to live out my dream I had since I was a kid.
“It’s a special bond we have.”
Thurston has since built a reputation as playing with a toughness well above his weight and said it was a nonnegotiable requirement at Belmore.
“If you have a look at the playing group and the roster that he had assembled when I was there, it had Adam Perry, Steve Reardon, and before I was playing it was Darren Britt and Craig Polla Mounter and Dean Pay, the ‘ Dogs of War’,” Thurston said.
“When you played the Dogs, whether you won or lost you were going to be sore for a few days.
“That’s what he instilled into his playing group.”
The 34- year- old will begin his final season by playing his 300th game against Cronulla at 1300SMILES Stadium on Friday night.
He will also break good mate Matt Bowen’s club games record when he runs out for the Cowboys for the 271st time.