State of Origin 2016: Johnathan Thurston opens up on the forces that drove him to greatness

THERE is something outrageous about Johnathan Thurston’s desperation on every play that goes beyond routine coaching and standard motivation levels. How did he get that way?

WHEN Johnathan Thurston talks about the forces that drove him to greatness he recalls car washes, childhood tears and a cold room that still makes him shiver.

There is something outrageous about Thurston’s desperation on every play that goes beyond routine coaching and standard motivation levels.

Rugby league has seen plenty of great generals and a million willing foot soldiers but rarely do they come in the one package.

Johnathan Thurston has spoken about the forces that drove him to greatness. Picture: Peter Wallis

Thurston is the first voice, the last hope, the lead guitarist and the roadie, the man who sets up the winning play but also owns that outstretched arm you see sliding into the edge of the replay screen trying to deny the opposition a try.

So I ventured to the Queensland Origin media day simply to get one question answered ... tell us, Johnathan, where does this insatiable streak of pure, mad-capped desperation come from.

“Well,’’ said Thurston, before pausing for a moment’s contemplation, “it goes back to when I was a kid and was a sook who could not stand losing.

“That drove me. I think it is why I am so competitive. I was in tears all the time. If we lost I would be that filthy. I remember the cuddles from mum “it’s OK son ... it’s all right.

“That was at Sunnybank where I played all my junior football.’’

It is part of rugby league folklore that Thurston’s management approached every club in the NRL on his behalf and got knocked back by almost all of them on the basis he was too small.

You wonder whether if he had it easier — let’s say the first club who saw him signed him — whether the bushfire that burns like a raging inferno inside him would never have stayed so bright for so long.

Not even he could answer this but this much is certain. The pain of initial rejection fed the fire.

“In high school no one was really interested in signing me. I just decided to keep plugging away,” Thurston said.

Johnathan Thurston in action during a Queensland State of Origin training session. Picture: Peter Wallis

“I had a friend who was playing reserve grade at All Whites and working at Coles in Toowoomba and he got me a job there and I played footy on a Saturday afternoon.

“It was the Coles butcher shop and I worked there for six to eight months. I remember that cold room. I was only 70kg and all skin and bone and had to unpack the meat. I couldn’t stand the cold. I can still feel it.

“But I always had that dream to play at the highest level and Ricky Stuart saw me play and gave me a chance.’’

Stuart did give him a chance at the Bulldogs but the gods of the game weren’t quite ready to hand him a gold pass to stardom. And so came further tests of his desire which kept him lean and hungry.

“When I moved to Sydney I had to wash cars because I was only on a training trial. That really motivated me. I would wash 100 cars if I had to play NRL.

It has all been a part of it. I used to write my goals down every year when I was 16 or 17.

“People think I was washing cars just to wash cars but I was doing it to get closer to my dream. It was the journey I had to take.’’

Will Chambers, Greg Inglis and Jonathan Thurston celebrate a Queensland State of Origin victory. Picture: Adam Head