A perfect day for Johnathan Thurston in his emotional goodbye to rugby league

JOHNTHAN Thurston ticked all the boxes in his final game in the NRL in an emotional night on the Gold Coast as rugby league farewelled one of it’s very best.

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA — SEPTEMBER 01: Johnathan Thurston of the Cowboys greets teammate Gavin Cooper before the round 25 NRL match between the Gold Coast Titans and the North Queensland Cowboys at Cbus Super Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

WITH his favourite one-two punch plus an earth-quaking play no-one expected, Johnathan Thurston got his heart’s desire.

Thurston ended his illustrious career when the Cowboys beat the Titans 30-26 in an enthralling match which had a high-spirited flavour somewhere between a testimonial game — which it sort of was — and the NRL game which it was as well.

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LEGACY: Thurston says goodbye

Over the years we’ve seen the Thurston show and go, the chips and bombs and the across field kicks that, most appropriately, produced the game breaking try for Thurston’s old mate Gavin Cooper late in the second half.

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But last night came the final entry, the play that shocked the stadium … a brutal front on tackle on Gold Coast captain Ryan James so perfectly timed that the ball spat forward like a kid coughing up a lolly as James was slam dunked into the turf.

No-one saw it coming. Least of all James.

Of the 4440 tackles Thurston made in his NRL career this was surely the biggest dam-buster.

At that very moment, any career biographer taking film of Thurston’s last game might have felt like leaving the ground and declaring “that’s it … I’m done … we’ve got it all.’’

Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke Thurston later jolted the ball free from Ash Taylor with another bone rattler, playing like a man who reckoned he might as well drive his old car into the ground before he traded it in.

Thurston ticked all the boxes in his final match. Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images.

Modern rugby league has never seen a game quite like this, where a team felt like unloved visitors on their home soil as the majority of the 26,681 fans at the Gold Coast stadium cheered long and loud for the Cowboys.

Fittingly, Thurston made the last tackle of his last game, and, as has been the case throughout his career, was his side’s first option, last resort, scheming general and willing foot soldier who hustled all night like the human cattle dog he is.

The Cowboys came back from the dead. AAP Image/Dave Hunt.

When winger Gideon Gela-Mosby scorched down the touch line for the last try Thurston was high-fiving teammates when the winger still had 20 metres to run. His joy was boundless.

At times the Titans must as felt as if they were trying to block Santa from coming down the chimney on Christmas Day.

Cameron Smith even flew from Melbourne to shake Thurston’s hand on the sideline before the kick-off.

It was an emotional moment for player and club. AAP Image/Dave Hunt.

There were lasts and also firsts … the first time a referee (Gavin Badger) hugged a player before the game, the first time an away team got a bigger cheer than the home team when they took the field and the first time a senior team all wear headgear when they took the field in honour of a teammate.

As Thurston did a lap of the ground to thank fans U2’s Beautiful Day played over the loud speaker, the song for the moment if ever there was one.

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