How one call from Canterbury
IT will go down as the biggest recruitment blunder in rugby league history, bar none.
The day back in July 2004 when the Canterbury Bulldogs let a 21-year-old Johnathan Thurston go.
Despite his pleas to stay at Belmore and the fact he was prepared to accept 30 per cent less than North Queensland was offering, the Bulldogs cut him loose – and chose Brent Sherwin ahead of him. Here is how it all unfolded.
In these days Thurston was barely recognisable. The punters wouldn’t have even noticed the Cowboys’ coach, the late Graham Murray, and team manager Peter Parr with the boom young halfback and his light up, then you hit the semis and it’s a whole new ball game.
“The body’s very sore and sorry for those couple of weeks. You give yourself the opportunity to play in the grand final and you have to try and put that aside and get ready for it.”
The Cowboys have had to reach the decider the hard way, playing three finals and only one in Townsville, after losing to the Broncos in week one.
They will have their first real training session of the week today then hit the paddock in Sydney on Friday and Saturday to finalise preparations for the club’s first grand final since 2005.
Despite Thurston’s injury concerns and the hectic schedule, Green said he was rallying agent Sam Ayoub sitting around a table at Barzura in Coogee.
He played only seven firstgrade games that year.
In those days the Cowboys had Nathan Fein at halfback and David Myles at fiveeighth, both handy players but hardly in the superstar class.
That morning in the coffee shop they offered Thurston a two-year contract worth $420,000.
It was huge money for a youngster who at that stage of his career was only on year-toyear deals.
The offer was put in writing the next day – $220,000 for 2005 and $240,000 for 2006.
They needed a quick decision and placed a 48-hour deadline.
It was even more appealing his team to produce one final effort to claim the club’s first premiership in their 21-year history.
“Next week is the time to relax and look back on the year that’s been,” he said.
“When you get caught in the grind of the season, sometimes you don’t take enough time to look back and celebrate what you have achieved.
“The boys understand what’s on the line. They’re pretty focused on making sure they prepare as well as they can for that.”
Thurston made an emotional acceptance speech after he became the first player to win four Dally M medals on Monday night.
It has been a taxing season for the league’s best player and Ms Lynch said she was encouraging Thurston to push through until Sunday night.
“The last couple of weeks have been bad. When he got back this time (from Melbourne) he could hardly sit down without being in agony,” she said.
“I just told him: ‘ 80 more minutes and your body can have a rest’.
“He knows as well as anyone that he’s getting to the end of his career. He just desperately wants a premiership.”
Thurston has been vocal in the players’ association push for more leave and better pay.
His overworked body is a clear indication of the struggles the game’s elite players are suffering and he said he hoped the issue would be resolved soon.
“The RLPA and NRL are talking about player welfare,” he said.
“They understand it is a big issue in the game.” because, at the meeting, Murray offered him the starting halfback job, while he was still playing off the bench at Canterbury. Previously they had bought older and more experienced players like Julian O’Neill and Tim Brasher. Here was the kid Murray believed could one day deliver the club a premiership.
Thurston also had interest from the Rabbitohs.
Former Bulldogs forward Paul Dunn was the South Sydney chief executive.
Dunn offered Thurston $120,000 a year, almost double what he was on at Canterbury.
Phil Gould was a close friend and adviser to Dunn and advised him to bump the offer up to $200,000 and that he wouldn’t regret it.
Dunn couldn’t go any higher because of salary cap pressure so it came down to the Bulldogs or the Cowboys.
Thurston was desperate to stay at Belmore. He played off the bench in the Bulldogs’ grand final-winning side and was close mates with Willie Mason, Reni Maitua, Matt Utai and Willie Tonga.
When no one else wanted him, the Bulldogs gave him a contract (match payments only) and free accommodation in 2002.
He ended up winning three premierships in three years – the Under-20s (2002), reserve grade (2003) and first grade in 2004. He loved the club. It had become his home.
After the
talks with the Cowboys in Coogee, Ayoub organised an urgent meeting with the Bulldogs. It was 9am inside the office of chief executive Malcolm Noad.
There was Noad, coach Steve Folkes, Thurston and Ayoub. Thurston reminded Ayoub before they walked in he wanted to stay. Still Ayoub was worried.
“Folkesy was one of those structured-like coaches,” Ayoub said. “He probably saw too much flair in Johnathan and although he wanted to keep him, he wasn’t going to bust his guts to do it.”
Ayoub brought the contract offer from the Cowboys to the meeting to prove it was legitimate and not one of those cases where managers try to squeeze more by inventing interest from elsewhere.