JT talks turning ‘ 29’ and where side’s at
SPEAKING on the eve of his birthday, North Queensland Cowboys co- captain Johnathan Thurston revealed the trials and tribulations of growing old in the game he has played all his life.
Thurston joked he would be turning 29 but in reality he will be 35 today.
The day will mark almost 16 years since he made his NRL debut for the Canterbury Bulldogs in June 2002 against the Penrith Panthers. It was a successful entry to first- class football, with the Bulldogs easing past the Panthers 38- 24.
But as the four- time Dally M Medallist nears retirement he tells a different story as the Cowboys struggle to stay afloat this season, having won just two of seven games.
Asked if he believed his body would get him to this stage he answered with a yes but it was hardly confident.
“Mentally it’s all right. Physically you need to work on it pretty hard – obviously a lot of physio work and a lot of massages,” Thurston said.
“It takes the body a bit longer to recover from games but in saying that there’s light at the end of the tunnel, so it’s quite easy to get up and going again ( and) be around the boys.
“The older you get the longer it takes to recover on the body, but being the final year it’s easy to get out of bed and come to training and stir the boys up.”
It’s not only Thurston’s body that is taking longer to recover.
Thurston admitted last weekend’s 26- 14 win over the Gold Coast Titans, the Cowboys’ first win since Round 1, was less than reassuring.
“I think all of us are looking to build on what we did on the weekend. It wasn’t pretty but we had to fight pretty hard for everything,” he said.
Thurston said the Cowboys needed to be more disciplined against the Canberra Raiders this week after they conceded 11 penalties against the Titans.
“Our discipline at times ... that’s probably what’s been hurting us most over the first six, seven rounds,” he said.
“Especially in our own end, teams are taking two points and getting three or four penalty goals and we’re losing by three tries to two or four tries to three. But because they’re kicking so many penalty goals the scoreboard is ticking away from you, which puts pressure on your attack.”
While no team has made the grand final from such a position, Thurston believed the Cowboys still had a chance.
“Always have that belief, that’s never wavered from us inside these four walls,” he said.
“People can say what they like about us but it’s all what we do behind these four walls so we’ll continue to drive those standards.”