The Origin career of one of Queensland’s true greats has come to a sad and unfulfilling end, Johnathan Thurston ruled out for the remainder of the 2017 season at a run-of-the-mill press conference in Townsville.
It is a cruel and bitter blow for the most durable player in State of Origin history, a player who defied size and the years to play an incredible 36 consecutive matches in the Maroon. A rotator cuff injury sustained in State of Origin II requires immediate surgery and a six-month recovery.
Despite the severity of the injury, Thurston masterminded Queensland’s gritty second-half comeback at ANZ on Wednesday night before he slotted the winning sideline conversion. In rugby league’s long and storied history of heroics through hurt – Clive Churchill’s sideline goal with a broken arm, John Sattler playing a grand final with a severely broken jaw, Trevor Gillmeister climbing from his hospital bed to lead a depleted Maroons team – Thurston kicking Queensland home with just one wing will go down in lore.
Arguably only Wally Lewis holds a greater reputation among the Queensland faithful. His five man-of-the-match awards are second only to “The King” himself. His 220 Origin points is 59 points clear of second-placed Mal Meninga and 91 clear of top Blue Michael O’Connor. His 24 Origin victories trails only team-mate Cameron Smith. No player has participated in more series wins.
While they knew his time in maroon was drawing to a close, to a man it was envisaged it would be on the shoulders of his team-mates in front of a packed Suncorp after yet another series victory. Alas, fairytales are for the fiction writers. Rugby league can be a cruel game.
This injury will also bring to an end a decorated Test career that has seen him lose just two of the 38 Tests he played in, playing the central role in the 2013 World Cup success winning an incredible four man-of-the-match awards in the five games he played that tournament. He never tasted defeat at the Four Nations. In the 110-year history of the Australian jersey, no player has scored more points.
He certainly came a long way from the kid who was too skinny to make it. He is well on the path to Immortality. Many consider him the greatest half to play the game and it is hard to argue against. While the stats certainly tell one part of his story, it is the characteristics of the man that tell the most.
When he first came to grade at Canterbury, Thurston was considered a bit of a ratbag who perhaps didn’t have the dedication to make it in the NRL. He stands on the cusp of his final NRL season, reflecting on a decorated representative career, with a reputation as one of the game’s true inspirations. He was a team-mate who everyone wanted to play with. He was a star cheered on by men and women, boys and girls, Queenslanders and New South Welshmen. He had earned something incredibly rare in rugby league: universal respect and admiration.
Two words seem to best sum Thurston’s play up: competitive and clutch.
Few players can match Thurston’s drive, his will to win, an ability to push his team to victory from seemingly impossible positions. And when the game is there to be won, nobody doubts Thurston will get it done, like he has so many times before.
When he lined up the conversion to keep Queensland’s series hopes alive on Wednesday night, the ball was as good as over. Not even the most optimistic Blues fan thought he would miss. And he didn’t.
Brilliant, reliable, a generational talent, Johnathan Thurston leaves the representative arena having achieved it all. He won’t get the fairytale farewell but it won’t matter because his entire career playing for Queensland and Australia has been one never-ending story of success, joy and triumph.
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