World Cup draw ‘stupid and ridiculous’
Thurston completes long ride to glory
JOHNATHAN THURSTON hailed North Queensland’s maiden NRL premiership as the crowning achievement of his career, after putting the finishing touch on one of the most complete CVs in rugby league history.
The Immortal-in-waiting added the elusive title, and the Clive Churchill Medal, to his resume after leading the Cowboys to an epic, 17-16, golden-point, grand final victory over Brisbane on Sunday at ANZ Stadium.
His extra-time field goal, having struck the upright with a matchwinning conversion attempt after the siren had sounded, sent Cowboys fans into a frenzy.
It was the final frontier for Thurston, who secured his first NRL title coming off the bench for Canterbury as a 21-year-old in 2004.
A dual Golden Boot winner as world player of the year, Thurston last week claimed a record fourth Dally M Medal. Throw in nine State of Origin series wins for Queensland and a Rugby League World Cup with Australia and Thurston has achieved everything the game has to offer.
‘‘I’m speechless,’’ he told the Nine Network, almost in tears, minutes after the win. ‘‘Wow, I can’t believe what I’ve just done — unbelievable. I just love this club.’’
Jubilant Cowboys coach Paul Green hailed Thurston a hero. ‘‘He’s unbelievable. I don’t think there’s any other player that I’d want to take that goal. It wasn’t to be, but he iced the game when he got the chance.’’
Thurston later said he ranked cocaptaining the Cowboys with Matt Scott to the club’s breakthrough premiership above anything else he’d accomplished in his decorated career.
‘‘It’s number one,’’ he said. ‘‘Because that’s what you do. You set out every year to do that and I can’t be prouder with the way the boys have gone about their business all year.
‘‘Whoever’s come in and done a job, they’ve done a job for us and that was evident throughout the Origin period. We only lost one match during that period this year and, in the past, that’s probably been where we’ve been our weakest.’’
It was almost 10 years to the day the Cowboys last ventured into Sydney on the first Sunday in October, departing in heartache as Benji Marshall ran riot to lead the Wests Tigers to their first title.
Thurston, in his first season with the Cowboys at the time, would have to wait another 3655 days for a shot at redemption – for a chance to etch his name alongside Andrew Johns as arguably the greatest player the game has produced.
The Cowboys were admitted to the NRL in 1995 and finished last in three of their first six seasons. ‘‘Some of the farmers and the economy up there [North Queensland] have been doing it tough. It’s taken 20 years and we’ve finally brought a premiership home,’’ Green said.
‘‘When [Thurston] took that goal, I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to take it. He iced the game when he got the chance.’’
The man tipped to step up as Broncos fullback following Justin Hodges’ retirement, New Zealander Jordan Kahu, says Brisbane’s shattering loss will motivate him to ‘‘make amends’’ next year.
Kahu is expected to be given one of league’s most daunting tasks in 2016 — filling 16-season centre Hodges’ boots – but the talented flyer admits his biggest challenge will be overcoming their golden point loss.
‘‘I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t. I just want to wake up from this bad dream — hopefully we make amends next year,’’ Kahu said. ‘‘I think everyone in our team thought we had it won but North Queensland never gave up, we didn’t either but it went their way. I am going to hold it close to my heart. I will put the result somewhere in my room so I can wake up every morning and motivate me.’’ WALES coach Warren Gatland has slammed World Rugby officials for the way they do the World Cup draw, describing the ‘‘group of hell’’ as stupid and ridiculous.
Wales and Australia have locked in quarterfinal berths after they both toppled World Cup hosts England in the pool stages.
They will clash at Twickenham on Saturday to decide which team finishes top of the pool dubbed the ‘‘group of death’’ before the tournament began.
Australia, Wales and England were all ranked inside the top six in the world, but only two were able to advance to the next stage of the competition.
World Rugby did the World Cup draw three years ago to plan for the tournament.
‘‘It’s not just the group of death, it’s the group of hell,’’ Gatland, Wales’ Kiwi coach, said yesterday.
‘‘Everyone is talking about England as the first host country to miss out on the quarterfinals, but the stupid thing is why was the World Cup draw done three years ago?
‘‘It’s ridiculous. If they had followed the football model then we wouldn’t be in this position.’’
Gatland said knowing his team had already qualified for the next stage would allow them to ‘‘take the shackles off’’ when they played against the Wallabies.
Australia are unbeaten in their last 10 tests against Wales, a streak stretching Gatland’s entire Wales coaching stint.
‘‘We always planned to make Gatland said.
‘‘We knew how tough this group was going to be, not with just England, Australia and ourselves, but Fiji, too. I think if Fiji had been in other groups they would have qualified for the quarterfinals as well.
‘‘We are delighted to be through, and Australia have done us a massive favour. You’ve got to feel for other teams involved. There is a huge amount at stake, with families and livelihoods, so I am just trying to keep things in perspective.’’
England coach Stuart Lancaster faces a fight to keep his job after the unenviable feat of helming the first host nation in cup history to be knocked out of the tournament in the group stages.
World Rugby officials say the draw process would be reviewed after the tournament.
But Wallabies coach Michael Cheika did not want to be drawn on the way teams are put together in groups.
‘‘It’s got nothing to do with me, I’ll be honest . . . I don’t even know how it’s done,’’ he said.
‘‘I don’t know how these teams managed to get into the pool together, I wouldn’t have a clue. I didn’t really know about it, I wasn’t even looking at it.’’
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