Johnathan Thurston is getting nervous. It is four days away from the opening game of this year’s State of Origin series and suddenly the reality hits him like a tsunami – Thurston, like us mere mortals, is now ­simply a spectator.

For 13 years, Thurston, the champion North Queensland Cowboys co-captain, was at the epicentre of the wondrous annual footballing theatre that is State of Origin. He was the ultimate warrior for Queensland rugby league fans. In his world, there was no time for nerves. For Thurston, his veins as cold as a Norwegian fjord, the Origin stage was where he thrived. His sanctuary. Where he felt he belonged.

The statistics support the Thurston mentality. In 37 ­Origin games – second only on the all-time list of appear­ances to 42-match ironman teammate Cameron Smith – Thurston won 24 times. With the halfback magician pulling the strings like Copperfield, Queensland won 11 of 13 series during Thurston’s reign. There was a time when the record-breaking Maroons couldn’t imagine life without Thurston and Smith.

Now, following Smith’s Origin retirement bombshell a fortnight ago, they are both gone.

When the Maroons run onto the MCG this Wednesday night before an estimated 90,000 fans, Thurston will be 2600km away watching from his Townsville lounge room. It will ram home the finality of his Origin career. The ­divorce will be complete … and it scares him.

“I know Origin is coming,” says Thurston, whose Queensland career ended prematurely last season when he busted his shoulder in Game Two, robbing him of a fairytale finale in the Maroons’ series-clinching 22-6 win in the decider at Suncorp Stad­ium. “I honestly don’t know how I’m going to feel. I know I’m not a good spectator. I get more nervous sitting there watching than being out there. You just feel helpless.

“It’s going to be weird. Origin has been such a big part of my life. This time of year is something special, it has been for 13 years of my life. Of course, I will be cheering the boys on. But when they run out, I’m going to be sitting there in the living room … I don’t know what emotions I’m going to feel.” Perhaps it will stir the emotions that ignited a childhood dream.

THE JOHNATHAN RECLINER

It is fitting that Thurston, who turned 35 in April, will watch Origin I from his lounge room for it was the very place that helped spawn one of the greatest Queensland players of his generation. Thurston was six when he dared to dream of rugby league stardom. From his living room, ­sitting among 20 family members, bottles of Coca-Cola and half-empty pizza boxes, a young Thurston watched in awe as Queensland icon Wally “The King” Lewis beat a string of Blues defenders, scoring the famous 40-metre try that ­inspired the Maroons’ 1989 series win.

Thurston was hooked. “All I wanted to do as a kid was play State of Origin,” he says. “My first ever memory of ­Origin was when Wally scored that great try. That lit the fire within me to play for Queensland.”

At the time, Thurston had just started his league career with Sunnybank, in Brisbane’s south. As a five-year-old he would watch his father Graeme, who has Maori blood, from the sidelines, earning $1 as a ballboy. Growing up, Thurston was told he was too small to crack the big league. Brisbane Broncos scouts sensationally snubbed him at a schoolboys carnival, with one scout’s report card saying simply: “Too skinny”. But amid the visible skin and bone, the great intangible was Thur­ston’s fierce inner drive. ­Maroons skipper Smith detected it before most when the duo first squared off in an under-12s game at a suburban Brisbane ground. Smith was playing for Logan Brothers against Thurston’s Sunny­bank side. “He was just this scrawny little kid,” Smith recalls. “But, mate, he was competitive. Ultra compet­itive. I remember he threw a pass and one of my teammates intercepted the ball and raced away to score.

“I always say that this kid [Thurston] sat down and cried his eyes out. To this day, he denies it, but that showed back then how much it meant to him and how competitive he was. He never liked losing … and he has a bravery I’ve never seen from anyone else in football.”

Few truly know the level of pain Thurston endured to play in Origin II last season. In the 78th minute, two minutes before full-time, he famously kicked the winning sideline conversion for an 18-16 victory to keep the series alive – with one tendon ripped completely from his shoulder.

When doctors operated, they found the torn tendon had retracted four-and-a-half centimetres. It was salvaged and pulled back to its original attachment point, ostensibly ­saving Thurston’s career and enabling him to play one final campaign with the Cowboys this season.

But while Thurston’s NRL rivals knew of his shoulder pain, they didn’t see the price he paid privately. Such was the pain, Thurston slept in a recliner chair. He ingested heavy painkillers daily. When Thurston joined the ­Maroons this time last year, a recliner was sourced for his Origin camp bed. While his teammates slept in five-star luxury beds, Thur­ston slept as if sitting in a Qantas economy seat.

“It was too painful to ­actually sleep in my bed so I would lie in the recliner each night,” he says. “I did that for two months. I was on painkillers, a lot stronger than ibuprofen. I was eating them like Skittles lollies. During the day I was OK, but at night the pain was agony. I struggled to sleep four or five hours.

“When I went into Origin camp, the QRL were good. They brought a recliner chair in for me,” adds Thurston, breaking into his trademark kookaburra laugh. “Don’t worry, I got hammered by the boys for using it … but it was the only way I could sleep.”

Despite his shoulder being ripped to shreds, Thurston ­insisted on soldiering on. He believed he could survive ­another three weeks to play in last year’s Origin decider. The script, in his mind, had been written. It had to be ­followed: Queensland win. Thurston exits an Origin hero.

But doctors, peeling back the layers of emotion, were more pragmatic. Their advice hit Thurston ­between the eyes. A father to three young daughters – Frankie, 5, ­Charlie, 3, and one-year-old Lillie – Thurston put family ­before football. “The doctor was honest with me,” he says. “He said, ‘If you keep playing [with a busted shoulder], you may not be able to pick up your kids when you get older’. When he said that, the decision was easily made. It shook me up. I had to have the operation. As much as I love rugby league, I want to pick my girls up 1000 times [more].

“Being a father has changed me. I used to only have to worry about myself. Now I have my wife, Samantha, and these three amazing daughters, they are the reason I get out of bed and do what I do. They bring so much joy to my life. Nothing in this world makes me happier than my girls.”

The Thurston maturation, and indeed reformation, is a journey not without heartache. In 2007, two years after ­joining the Cowboys, he had his entire back tattooed with angel’s wings. It was a cathartic experience. As a teenager, Thurston got caught up with the wrong crowd and could have easily gone off the rails. Rugby league was his ticket to prosperity. The inkwork painted a free spirit determined to fly high. “I’d always wanted a back tattoo,” he says. “At the end of 2007, I got the wings. I’ve had some tough times in my life. In the past, I’d made some decisions that weren’t great. That tattoo was a reminder for me of not going back there.”

While he is now adored at the Cowboys, as much as a poster boy for his football talent as his growing passion for indigenous affairs, there was a time when the club wanted to sack Thurston.

SECOND CHANCE

In September 2010, Thurston was arrested in Brisbane’s CBD for an alcohol-related incident at Brisbane’s Treasury Casino, just 2km from Suncorp Stadium, the scene of so many of his Origin heroics. The seven-man North Queensland board voted, almost unanimously, to tear up his contract. But there were two powerful dissenters. Cowboys chairman Laurence Lancini and football operations chief Peter Parr went to war with the board, declaring if Thurston was sacked, they would walk out with him.

Amid the drama, Thurston’s management spent $4400 hiring a private investigator, who accessed CCTV footage of the casino incident. His report, which was tabled to the board and cleared Thurston of any wrongdoing, convinced the Cowboys board to give him a second chance.

When he was released by Brisbane police, Thurston flew home to Townsville. He faced Parr and Lancini and uttered two words: “Never again”. “That was the turning point for Johnathan in his career. That is why he is now a champion of the game,” Lancini says. “I remember walking into the board meeting and the board told me, ‘We are sacking ­JT’. I left the room briefly with Peter Parr and I said to him, ‘No way is this happening. If we sack him, I’m quitting right now’. I just disagreed with it because as young people we all make mistakes. I felt Johnathan needed another chance.

“He never says no to helping people. Sometimes it’s to his detriment, but he always tries to help others. I wasn’t going to let us kick him out the door. It was a real wake-up call and from that point on I knew JT would be committed to becoming a great player and ambassador for the game.”

Since that night, Thurston embarked on a rare individual dominance of rugby league. He won a further two Dally M Medals (giving him a record four in total) as the NRL’s best player, claimed three Golden Boot awards as the world’s best player, and led the Cowboys to their maiden premiership in 2015. While he endured some tough times off the field, Thurston admits becoming an Origin player helped him shed his larrikin image. Mixing with captaincy ambassadors such as Darren Lockyer and Smith taught him football talent alone was not good enough.

“Origin made me grow up as a person,” he says. “I was around players who understood what it took to prepare for big games like that. But it wasn’t just football, it was the ­people they were. Guys like Locky and Cam were leaders at their clubs and good ambassadors for the game, too. The last thing I wanted to do coming into the Queensland team was piss off one of the senior blokes. You learn very quickly how those guys carry themselves and treat people. I guess I watched and observed and learned from the best.”

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Without Origin on his calendar this season, Thurston must find contentment at the Cowboys. The problem is his grand NRL finale, much like his Origin exit, threatens to end in tears. Touted as premiership ­favourites in pre-season, the Cowboys crashed to be equal last after eight rounds. Critics have pilloried several big-name stars including Thurston, claiming he has played one year too long.

But there is a famous mantra in sport about never ­writing off a champion. Thurston accepts he may not get his wish of a third premiership ring, but only the foolish and feckless would underestimate a man who thrives on defying the odds. “I understand all fairytales don’t come true,” Thurston says. “But I also know we have a squad that is working extremely hard to win football matches and we’re still in a position to play finals footy.

“I’m comfortable with the decision I’ve made to retire this year and while I’m excited about the next chapter of my life, and I know I still have more to give this season. There’s no Origin commitments for me, so I won’t be taking any shortcuts at the Cowboys. I still want to be here.

“Hopefully, myself and the boys can get some reward out of this season.”

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Thurston is astutely preparing for life after football. In February, he unveiled plans for the Johnathan Thurston Academy, an education and training program aimed at helping Queensland youth. Last November, he was named Queensland’s Australian of the Year for his tireless pursuit in helping disadvantaged ­indigenous youth. In retirement, as is the Thurston way, he will not relent. “I’m going to miss rugby league, but I am passionate about indigenous affairs, especially in the ­education space,” he said. “I want to continue to be a voice for Aboriginal people. If there is something I am passionate about or believe in, I will voice my opinion. There are a lot of programs now being run for our culture that weren’t around when I was at school.

“There are now opportunities out there for our people. I want to help the next generation become better people.”