‘I’m just shattered’: Johnathan Thurston puts Cowboys in their place

The Sharks have booked a place in the NRL prelim but Cowboys club legend Johnathan Thurston has laid his former side’s issues bare.

Johnathan Thurston has put the Cowboys in their place. Photo: Channel 9 and NRL Photos

The Cronulla Sharks have snapped a six-year finals nightmare to book their place in a preliminary final for the first time since 2018 after downing the North Queensland Cowboys 26-18 at Allianz Stadium.

The Sharks will take on three-time defending champions the Penrith Panthers in Grand Final qualifier after finally getting the monkey off the back after snapping a run of eight finals losses in a row.

It’s also the Sharks’ first finals win under current coach Craig Fitzgibbon, despite having made the finals in all three years of his tenure.

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A first half masterclass from Sharks five-eighth Braydon Trindall set up the match for the Sharks, running away with a 24-0 lead at the halftime break.

A controversial penalty try in the 13th minute blew open the match as the Sharks piled on four tries with Trindall playing a key role to leave the Cowboys stunned.

Huge result for the Sharks. Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images

At the break, Cowboys legend Johnathan Thurston said the Queenslanders needed to believe they could come back.

“First I’d be telling them, give me their eyes and if they don’t believe they can come back, go and have a shower now,” Thurston said. “That’s not Cowboys type of football.

“They need to get back to competing, running hard, doing the simple things right. They’re getting down the field all right but when they’re in attacking zone they’re nine, seven, six and one look like they haven’t played together.

“They need some belief now because they’re down 24-0. They just got to reset, don’t worry about the scoreboard, play that Cowboy style of footy, move the ball, punch through the middle, and hopefully they can get some strike out wide.”

A try to Valentine Holmes immediately out of the break raised some eyebrows before Reuben Cotter scored next to the posts in the 54th minute making it 24-12.

However, a drop out from fullback Scott Drinkwater that went out on the full gave the Sharks a penalty goal from directly in front.

A second try for Valentine Holmes wasn’t enough as the Cowboys fell eight-points short.

JT was "shattered" by the result. Photo: Channel 9

At full-time Thurston said: “You just can’t afford to start like that.”

Asked if he believed it was a “pass or fail” in 2024, Thurston it was a “pass”.

“They got the captaincy right with Tom Dearden and Reuben Cotter — they are the future of the Cowboys,” Thurston said. “I thought both of those boys led by example.

“At the end, I’m just a little bit shattered for them tonight because I thought they come down here to have a red-hot crack.

“But where you finish the season is probably a reflection of how you played throughout the year and the inconsistency of the Cowboys has come back to bite them again.

“While they’ve been good in parts of the game, they have really struggled to put a complete 80 minute performance.

“When you are in the postseason, playing against the better sides, you can’t afford to have the errors that they had. You can’t afford to be behind 24-0 at half time. And I think it’s just a true reflection of their season and the inconsistency of it.”

In his press conference, Cowboys coach Todd Payten said his side “showed a bit of fight and spirit in that second half”, but the start was “too costly”.

Just like that, the season is over for the Cowboys. Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images

And he backed up Thurston’s comments when asked if the running “hot and cold” was a metaphor for the season.

“That’s where we’ve got to evolve, otherwise we’re a middle of the road team,” Payten said.

“We show some flashiness but we’ve got to bite down on the mouthguard in the tough parts of the game for longer periods.

“We’ve got some ability but you can’t pick and choose when you’re doing the hard stuff in the game.”

While it was far from a perfect match of football with the Cowboys missing 50 tackles and the Sharks missing 44, while the Sharks made 13 errors to 10, it’s finally broken the Sharks’ finals hoodoo.

“You don’t win a final missing 50 tackles,” Greg Alexander said on Fox League.

“I thought the lack of fitness from the Cowboys was exposed tonight. I thought there were so many unfit players out there.

“I thought the Sharks were easily the best side out there. Even though the Cowboys got themselves back into it, I just think the Sharks owned the game — the second half got a little bit dicey but I still think the Sharks were in total control.”