Johnathan Thurston’s greatness on the rugby league field will never be questioned

THE North Queensland Cowboys’ season is over. But the legend of their captain Johnathan Thurston only grew some more on Friday night.

Johnathan Thurston at the end of the game during the Sydney Roosters v North Queensland Cowboys Semi-Final game at Allianz Stadium. pic Mark Evans

JOHNATHAN Thurston’s greatness on the rugby league field will never be questioned.

The Cowboys’ season is over — but the legend of their captain only grew on Friday night.

What a match. What a comeback. What heartbreak.

For the third straight season the Cowboys’ finals hopes were crushed by a controversial call.

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Johnathan Thurston argues with Gavin Badger.

But this time the Cowboys accepted there was no blunder.

The decision to deny Thurston the final try in the dying seconds, that would have won the Cowboys the game, was the right one.

It was tough, sure. But Robert Lui knocked on.

And after the game, the way the Cowboys handled that decision was all class. Thurston refused to blame the 31-30 loss on the final decision.

“The start to the game was what was tough to comprehend,” Thurston said.

And as for the Cowboys’ conspiracy theory, coach Paul Green was having none of it.

“As a club we need to move past that, I have said it all year,” Green said.

“We can talk about penalties, we can talk about ref’s calls and all that sort of stuff.

“But bottom line is you have to take those decisions out of the result. This is really tough to cop as a group and all the boys are really hurting. JT is no different.

“Everyone is burning and we will remember this feeling ... and grow from it.

“We will do everything we can to make sure we don’t feel like this again.”

It was a show of strength from both the coach and the captain, and it also shows how far the Cowboys have come.

So they don’t go home winners, but they were hardly losers on Friday night.

And what about Thurston’s effort. Even when the Cowboys were behind by 30 you could argue there wasn’t a better player on the park.

Johnathan Thurston at the end of the game.

And the leadership he showed to lift North Queensland back into the game was remarkable.

When young fullback Michael Morgan made the initial blunder with a poorly placed kick that Mitchell Pearce scooped up and raced the length the field to score, Thurston gave Morgan a pat on the head. Morgan had a horror first half, but Thurston kept his cool.

Thurston himself was being harassed by the Roosters’ defence who closed down his outside options forcing him to run back inside and take the hit.

It’s the identical way opposition teams play Thurston every finals series.

In the first half the Roosters’ tactics appeared to be rubbing the Cowboys champion out of the match.

But as he has done so many times before, Thurston simply found a way to defy the odds.

Found a way to lift his team.

And it almost ended in glory. Almost. That last play for the Cowboys. Thurston looked home.

But then the referee called it back, spotting Lui’s knock-on in desperation.

Some say the Cowboys were robbed. But the important thing was that the two opinions that matter most were having none of that. The Roosters earned their win.

Originally published as Johnathan Thurston’s greatness on the rugby league field will never be questioned