How fired-up Johnathan Thurston revived North Queensland Cowboys' NRL season

HE'S known for his on-field exploits, now Johnathan Thurston has been hailed as the glue that kept the Cowboys together off the field.

JOHNATHAN Thurston has been hailed as the glue that kept a rattled North Queensland side together in the wake of Neil Henry's sacking, telling his team mates to use the shock axing as fuel for a finals push.

In the hours following the board's termination of Henry's contract a year early, the Cowboys co-captain was the man who addressed the playing group.

Cowboys prop James Tamou said Thurston's message was a simple, "come together for Neil".

Thurston has been sensational since, piloting the Cowboys to back-to-back wins, including a huge upset of South Sydney.

He has seven try-assists, two line-breaks and six tackle busts across the two games as the Cowboys racked up 66 points.

Thurston's form and leadership has come in the face of off-field turmoil and on-field pressure, with the club's season on the line every week.

"He's been unreal mate," Tamou said of Thurston.

"Everything with Neil Henry, Johnno was the one who brought us all together.

"He stood up and told us... 'Boys, we really need to come together for Neil'.

"All the boys just listened to John. We all agreed with him.

"Now the form has come back to us."

JT

Thurston put his stand-out form down to finding the fun in football again and typically played down his importance to his team's two victories. 

"I have just been enjoying my footy," Thurston said.

"Our props are rolling forward for us and we are making the right decisions in attack.

"That's been very frustrating throughout the year, it has been one pass that has let us down ... or taking the wrong option that has cost us games."

The Cowboys still have to win each of their remaining four contests to scrape into the finals.

171960578

Their next mission is Saturday's clash against a reinvigorated Gold Coast Titans in Townsville.

The Titans have also won back-to-back games.

In-form Cowboys hooker Ray Thompson said the team was playing as one for the first time this season.

Thompson said Henry's message in the past fortnight was "no excuses".

"After that Souths game... Neil just reiterated there would be no excuses," Thompson said.

"He's been so professional and he hasn't changed a bit.

"We are working hard for each other. In attack we are all on the same page.

"We need to keep the roll going."

Henry said Thompson had all but sealed the Cowboys' contentious No.9 jersey.

"Ray would have had a crack at it earlier but we had problems with injuries in our halves so he had to play in the halves," Henry said.

"He's young but he's now coming to terms with what's required for an 80 minute performance.

"He's in there and he hasn't let anyone down."