Stuff dreams are made of
QUEENSLAND legend Johnathan Thurston has declared the NRL should use the success of Townsville’s first origin to launch a regional showpiece every year.
While he admitted the capacity of venues and potential ticket sales would play a major part in decision making, Thurston said it would be a move for the betterment of the game.
With rugby league in decline at the grassroots and struggling to maintain its grasp in traditional bush strongholds, staging the biggest showpiece in the regions would be the powder keg in the fight against Aussie rules and football.
Thurston believes there is an opportunity to return to a system where each state hosts a second game each year, which will be taken to regional centres including Townsville, Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast in Queensland and Newcastle, Woolongong in NSW and Canberra.
But he said it would be gauged off the outcome of Townsville’s introduction to Origin tonight, which is expected to be a rousing success after selling out the 25,000-seat stadium in a matter of minutes.
“I have no doubt it is going to be a success for Townsville and North Queensland,” Thurston said.
“I can’t see why the NRL shouldn’t look at hosting it somewhere else in a regional centre.
“That is something the NRL could look at especially with what the country and the whole world has been through in the past year. It would be nice to give back to the fans of the game.
“Having one at the regional centres would be a major boost to the game in those areas which can be the most important areas in the game.
“I would have loved playing in this game, I loved playing here in Townsville. I always think Suncorp is the best stadium to play rugby league at, but Townsville is a very close second.” Thurston was a key figure behind delivering the state-of-the-art Queensland Country Bank Stadium after a passionate plea on stage after the Cowboys won the 2015 grand final.
The future rugby league immortal now stands guard at the stadium’s northern end, his grand final winning heroics goal etched in bronze.
But even the 323-game NRL veteran, who pulled on the Maroon of Queensland 37 times, could not have imagined his declaration on that October night would lead to State of Origin in Townsville.
“It is not my stadium, it is the people’s stadium,” Thurston said.
“Not in my wildest dreams did I think we would get Origin. It has always been in the big cities, the big stadiums. I know it is unforeseen circumstances, but this is history in the making.
“Of course I didn’t have Origin on the mind when I asked for the stadium, I had the Cowboys, attracting world class events whether it be concerts and other sports. But to be able to host this event, it is part of history.”
Thurston is probably the one man who understands just how passionate the North Queensland rugby league fans are having run out in front of them more times than any other player. The former halfback believes their sheer dedication to the sport can be measured in kilometres.
“The southeast, it is like travelling from Ingham to Townsville, it is an hour to get anywhere,” he said.
“Up here we’re constantly hearing and speaking to people that travel from the Cape, Gladstone and Mount Isa. It is hours and hours on the road.
“We are a lot bigger, people have to travel a lot further. But the fans of North Queensland do it because they love the game.”
Thurston believes Townsville’s first Origin will be an unbridled success and the atmosphere inside Queensland Country Bank Stadium could rival the cauldron at Suncorp Stadium.
“We haven’t seen this stadium full before, it is going to be packed to the rafters,” Thurston said.
“I can’t wait to see the atmosphere we can produce for Origin.”
Thurston will get a first-hand experience of the stadium in his role as an assistant Maroons coach.