North Queensland Cowboys robbed for third straight year in finals loss to Sydney Roosters

HEARTBREAK. Utter despair. Lightning has struck North Queensland for the third year in a row, the Cowboys robbed of their premiership dreams.

Johnathan Thurston argues with Gavin Badger during the Sydney Roosters v North Queensland Cowboys Semi-Final game at Allianz Stadium. pic Mark Evans

HEARTBREAK, utter despair, regret and pride.

Lightning has struck North Queensland for the third year in a row, the Cowboys robbed of their premiership dreams.

Cowboys skipper Johnathan Thurston was denied a match-winning try with 54 seconds remaining that cost North Queensland victory in the semi-final at Allianz Stadium, beaten 31-30 by reigning premiers Sydney Roosters.

Johnathan Thurston dejected at full time. Picture: Mark Evans

Once again the blame will be put at the hands and whistles of the men in the middle.

In 2012, it was the Hand of Foran, in 2013 the seventh tackle try and now we have Gavin Badger’s balls-up.

Thurston appeared to score the winner but referee Badger bizarrely called a knock on against Robert Lui in the lead-up play.

But Cowboys coach Paul Green and Thurston afterwards blamed only themselves as the club digested a third controversial finals exit in three years.

Distraught Ashton Sims. Picture: Mark Evans

The debate about Lui’s touch will continue for eternity – except deep inside the four walls of the Cowboys.

“As a club we need to move past it. I’ve said it all year, we could talk penalties and referees calls, bottom line is we need to take those decisions out of the result,” Green said.

“Blaming other people or refs calls won’t do us any good in the long term.

“This is really tough to cop as a group, all the boys are really, really hurting in there and JT is no different.

“Everyone is burning about this. We will use that and remember this is how we feel tonight and grow as a group and club and do everything we can to make sure we don’t ever feel like this again.”

A bloodied James Tamou. Picture: Mark Evans

It is unlikely Cowboys fans, or Queensland league fans, will be feeling the same restraint this morning.

Thurston had been very emotional the past two years when confronted by such contentious finals defeats, but was far more circumspect this year.

Johnathan Thurston offloads. Picture: Mark Evans

“I’m still filthy, we just lost a final. It still hurts, I think we’re probably a more mature team now and it’s a bitter pill to swallow,” Thurston said.

“The start put us under the pump, massive learning curve for our boys. You can talk about those calls or whatever but at the end of the day it comes back to way we started.”

“We put ourselves in a position to win the game and were not good enough in the end.”

Johnathan Thurston on the attack. Picture: Mark Evans

Thurston turned the microscope on himself, highlighting two crucial decisions he made in the game that proved costly for the team.

The first was failing to take the penalty goal option when they had the chance with less than a minute before halftime and were trailing 30-12.

The next chance came in the 65th minute when he made a break through the middle but ignored Michael Morgan flying through on his inside to kick for the corner where the ball ran dead.

“I made a break through the middle third and could only see outside support and not see or hear Morgo on my inside,” he said.

“There’s plenty of things that could’ve been better. The boys showed great character not to lose their heads. I’m extremely proud of them.”

SYDNEY ROOSTERS 31 (D Tupou 2 M Jennings J Maloney M Pearce tries J Maloney 5 goals J Maloney field goal) bt NORTH QUEENSLAND 30 (G Cooper E Lowe R Lui M Scott J Thurston tries J Thurston 5 goals) at Allianz Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Shayne Hayne. Crowd: 18,355.

Originally published as North Queensland Cowboys robbed for third straight year in finals loss to Sydney Roosters