Johnathan Thurston has never been able to beat the Wests Tigers on NSW soil
FOR all he has achieved in the game, there is one team that has been a constant source of frustration for perhaps the greatest player the game has seen.
Tigers
Don't miss out on the headlines from Tigers. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AS Johnathan Thurston once again prepares to enter a black, white and gold house of pain, his North Queensland teammates have admitted the pressures of delivering him a champion’s farewell weighs heavily on their minds.
North Queensland will attempt to continue their belated revival against the Tigers on Thursday night by ending one of the longest-running hoodoos in the NRL.
For all his glorious moments and all the great Cowboys teams he’s led over the years, Thurston has never beaten the Tigers on New South Wales soil.
He’s 0-12 over the course of his career, dating all the way to his Bulldogs days.
Way back in 2003, in one of Thurston’s first games as a starter, a Tigers team led by luminaries like Mark O’Halloran and Lincoln Withers knocked off a high-flying Canterbury outfit 20-14 at the Sydney Showground.
Since then, it’s been relentless.
SLOW DOWN: Plan to cut interchange as injury toll rocks NRL
PENN: Manly are not for sale
Be it the 2005 grand final, a match Thurston said will haunt him for the rest of his life, to grimy upsets in front of 6000 people on wet, forgotten Saturday nights out at Campbelltown, it doesn’t matter.
The circumstances have changed but the results stay the same. At the Cowboys zenith or their nadir, it hasn’t mattered — when Thurston comes to Sydney, the Tigers have owned him.
It’s an intriguing subplot for a match that has taken on big implications for the Cowboys for one simple reason — they started so poorly that they can’t afford to slip further behind the pack.
With Thurston’s retirement looming on the horizon, in-form centre Ben Hampton admitted the prospect of letting the 35-year old down hangs over the playing group like a spectre.
“It’s always been there I think, with everyone. We haven’t spoken about it too much, because it’s hard to play on emotion every single week because it’s a tough sport and it’s hard to play well every week as it is,” Hampton said.
“It’s definitely something that (for) me personally, I do think about a fair bit and I’m sure that the whole squad is exactly the same as what I am.
“It’s a hard one to explain but yeah, you do feel like everything he’s done for that club, for the Cows, for the sport and the NRL, it does kind of feel like you’re letting him down a little bit.
“(But) he would never take it like that.
“Johnno doesn’t really like being in the spotlight and being spoken about.
“There have been times where we have brought it up, and it’s definitely something that’s been on my mind and I’m sure a lot of the players are in the same boat.”
Coach Paul Green said on NRL 360 earlier this week the Cowboys needed to embrace the emotional side of Thurston’s last ride and Michael Morgan conceded it had been the elephant in the room for much of the year.
“Being his last season I’d like nothing more than to send him out like the champion he is. It does hurt a bit, but we know he’s not struggling,” Morgan said.
“I’d love nothing more than for him to go out a real winner and for us to have a very good year in his last season.
“It has crossed my mind through the year, it’d be a shame if his final season was a bad one for the club.
As the Cowboys attempt to bear the weight of the present they’ll also be forced to confront the ghosts of history.
Thurston will once again be confronted by one of his oldest footballing enemies, the man who owns the indelible moment from the match Thurston can never leave behind, Benji Marshall.
Marshall’s career has had far more peaks and valleys than Thurston’s since that night 13 years ago, but the Tigers prodigal son always turns it on at Leichhardt.
He’s won 21 of 31 matches at the venue, and will return there for the first time since leaving the Tigers at the end of 2013 and will be hell bent on helping the Tigers end the three-match losing streak that has taken some of the gloss off their strong early-season form.
“It’s not one of the best grounds to play at,” said Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt.
“It’s very vocal, it’s enjoyable, but as an opposition it’s not very good to be there. (But) it’s always a pleasure to play there.”
Thurston himself nominated the old ground as the hardest venue to play at in the league earlier this week in a Twitter video, saying “Even the 12-year olds spray me there”.
It's Johnathan Thurston's final game at Leichhardt Oval this Thursday...
— Wests Tigers (@WestsTigers) May 8, 2018
You know what to do. ðŸ˜
🎟 Tickets ≫ https://t.co/ckz9i1KE47 pic.twitter.com/Hctawrf8LR
The match promises to be a physical and bruising encounter. After three weeks of conceding more than over 20 points, the Tigers will return to what won them five of their first six games — relentless, suffocating defence.
After several weeks of focusing on the team’s attack during the week, Cleary has battened down the hatches and made some defence-oriented team changes that could do the trick given North Queensland’s own attacking struggles.
LIVE stream the 2018 NRL Telstra Premiership on FOX SPORTS. Get your free 2-week Foxtel Now trial & start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >
Unresolved tension makes Tigers reunion Galvin’s greatest test
No one in Tigertown has forgotten how things ended with Lachlan Galvin. As they meet again, the fans who once cheered him will be baying for blood – and no doubt some of his former teammates will take delight in lowering his colours as well.
NRL Finals Predictor: Cellar dwellers shaping Top 8 order
Cellar dwellers Gold Coast and Parramatta have caused a top eight shake-up which can have major ramifications for the finals makeup. Every NRL club’s run home and final ladder position.