Crawley Files: Why the Cowboys’ culture is their gun weapon

OF all the memorable moments this year, the spectacular tries, the bone-crunching tackles, this vision will stand above all else on my highlights reel.

Johnathan Thurston looks on as Lachlan Coote and the Cowboys warm up.

WONDER if Jarryd Hayne and Josh Dugan caught a glimpse of Johnathan Thurston last Saturday night?

I bet Gold Coast and St George Illawarra fans did.

You often hear players at different clubs spruiking their team-first mentality.

Up in Townsville, ­Thurston drives it.

You’ll remember how Hayne found time to go out for dinner with some former Parramatta teammates in the days before Neil Henry’s sacking.

Yet, curiously, the superstar still wasn’t spotted at the game when the Titans played the Eels, despite assurances from his management Hayne was there.

The following weekend Dugan couldn’t make it on time for the Dragons’ team bus to Penrith.

Dugan misread the memo, apparently.

At least Dugan later admitted that he was terribly disappointed he let his teammates down ahead of such a crucial clash.

What he didn’t admit is that the week before he also missed the team’s flight back from Brisbane after the loss to the Broncos.

Ultimately, that’s what forced Paul McGregor to drop Dugan for the Panthers game.

Yet there was the injured Thurston in the aftermath of the Cowboys’ shock win over the Eels, picking up garbage, handing out beers to exhausted teammates.

Artwork: Scott “Boo” Bailey.

No doubt Thurston would be embarrassed by the attention this simple act of goodwill generated this week.

He shouldn’t be.

It points directly to why so many fans will be supporting the Cowboys in the grand final qualifier against the Sydney Roosters on Saturday night.

I don’t remember an ­instance that explains team culture more clearly.

Of all the memorable moments this year, the spectacular tries, the bone-crunching tackles, that vision will stand above all else on my highlights reel.

Thurston wouldn’t have known the cameras were even on him.

Just a superstar halfback cleaning the change room and doting on his friends!

🙌 JT.#NRLFinals #NRL pic.twitter.com/5iXwKT6thO

— NRL (@NRL) September 17, 2017

But Paul Green reckons Thurston does this type of stuff each and every week.

And because he does it, so do the rest of the boys.

Green himself was captured in the rooms after another game earlier this year, doing exactly what Thurston did last week, picking up trash.

You wouldn’t think it was the job of a head coach, or the game’s most adored player.

Green argues: “It is important that the leaders of the club set that example.

Johnathan Thurston looks on as Lachlan Coote and the Cowboys warm up.

“Myself, Johnathan, we have to live it. It has to be genuine, otherwise it is bullshit really.

“We obviously talk about culture and the things we would like people to say about us.

“But then it is about us living it and doing it. It is not about what you say, it is about what you do.

“All of our staff always help unload buses and take gear for everyone. No one is above any job.

“If there is a job there to be done for the team it doesn’t matter who you are, you just get in and do it. And that filters throughout our club.”

And it probably directly relates to why the Cowboys are still alive after playing almost the entire season without Thurston and co-captain Matt Scott.

Dugan wonders why he wasn’t considered a ­million-dollar player at the Dragons.

Insiders still shake their head about the time Dugan piped up about what a player at another club was being offered when he couldn’t get the Dragons to come to the party.

Cowboys training at 1300 Smiles Stadium. Coach Paul Green. Picture: Evan Morgan

And I saw this week Blake Ferguson was still coming up with excuses for Laurie Daley’s ­sacking.

Asked if he thought his actions were culpable for Daley’s demise, Ferguson answered: “No, I don’t feel responsible.

“Obviously it’s the board that made the decision and there were a lot (of factors) which led them to their ­decision.

“They made the decision based on a lot of things, not just what happened with me and Duges.”

Make no mistake, Daley was sacked through no small part because he trusted the wrong people.

Yet he has to accept some responsibility given he had final say on team selections.

Just like Green and Thurston should take no small part of the recognition for the culture at the Cowboys.

Cowboys players celebrate a Michael Morgan try against the Eels.

It’s no coincidence the Cowboys and the Melbourne Storm are the two most admired clubs in the NRL right now.

And it’s largely due to the culture they drive from the top down.

It’s also no coincidence as we head into the second-last week of the season they are still in the fight, the Cowboys against all odds.

Even on the sidelines, Thurston continues to have such a significant impact.

The thing is, all clubs are always working to improve culture.

But it is only the clubs where the most senior players buy into it that it thrives.

Thurston’s humble actions were another wonderful lesson for everyone, in life and in rugby league, that being a decent person is not that hard.

Even if you’re a superstar.