Relief JT eventually switched stance on Payten as coach
TODD Payten is the frontrunner for NRL coach of the year in 2022 but if Johnathan Thurston had his way, Payten would never have coached the Cowboys at all.
Payten, the skilful former Tigers prop who defeated North Queensland in the 2005 grand final, signed on to assist Paul Green in his first foray into senior coaching in 2015.
Thurston, North Queensland’s co-captain, remembered Payten from that decider.
“When Peter Parr (then Cowboys football manager) brought the subject up with Johnno, Johnno said, ‘No way – he is not at our club’,” Payten revealed on Fox League’s Face-to-face with Matty Johns this week.
“In the end he had to be talked around and I’m grateful that they talked him around.”
Payten said Thurston’s stance was an illustration of the competitor the four-time Dally M Player of the Year was.
“I’d run across Johnno at different times and different places, and he was always a decent fella to talk to, but losing grand finals is always hard to get over,” Payten said.
“I was a little bit gun-shy to start with, with Johnno. He’s one of the best players in the world and my thought processes were how would I tell him what to do?
“After a while he pulled me aside and said ‘hey, tell me the truth, I want to know’.
“That’s what I’ve worked out: the elite players want to be coached, they want information, and he really put me at ease with that.”
Payten returned to the Cowboys in 2021, this time as head coach, and enlisted Thurston’s services to mentor playmakers Tom Dearden, Chad Townsend and Scott Drinkwater.
“I was stoked when Toddy and Jeff (Reibel, Cowboys CEO) asked me to come back on board,” Thurston said earlier this year.
“It’s a really young group and Toddy pretty much gave me free rein. He wants me to concentrate on the halves, but he said, ‘If you see anything on the field at training, don’t be afraid to pull anyone up’. The players have really welcomed me on board, which is great.”