Johnathan Thurston has warned North Queensland’s rivals the Cowboys no longer dread coming to the big smoke as the NRL’s one-time road kill continue their transformation into travelling title threats.
While Thurston refused to claim bragging rights over Greg Inglis as the game’s best player, the humble champion’s latest rugby league masterclass in Monday night’s much-hyped showdown put South Sydney to the sword and helped the Cowboys to rare back-to-back away wins.
After dropping their first eight away games last season under rookie coach Paul Green, the Cowboys have now knocked over preliminary finalists Penrith and the reigning premiers in Sydney, the scene of so many heartbreaks in recent years.
“We’ve struggled with that in the past,” Thurston said after the 30-12 victory at ANZ Stadium.
“But I think we’ve got our preparation right to deal with that now and I don’t think we have a fear coming down to play in Sydney anymore.
“It’s a tight group, we get along very well and we enjoy it.”
Green claimed winning on the road was never an issue for him, insisting it was always going to take time for the Cowboys to adapt to his coaching style after he replaced Neil Henry at the end of 2013.
“It’s the same size field, same size ball, 13 players each side and we need to learn how to play wherever in whatever conditions against whoever,” he said.
“That’s the mark of a good, consistent team and that’s what we’re aiming to become.”
Acknowledging the Rabbitohs were down on troops, Green cautioned Cowboys fans against getting carried away ahead of Saturday’s hosting of the Warriors in Townsville.
“They lost some key players and (injured halfback) Adam Reynolds is the linchpin for a lot of what they do,” he said.
“They’ll get better with those guys out and I’m sure a few of those guys will be back before too long.
“We’re really pleased – they’re the premiers for a reason. They’re a really tough team to beat.
“So we do get some confidence off the back of that, but we do need to keep it in perspective.”
In sublime form, Thurston’s two-try, 18-point contribution followed up his man-of-the-match efforts in comeback wins over Melbourne and the Panthers.
The champion No.7 said he took the Cowboys’ first three losses this year personally.
“We all took a bit a whack from it,” he said. “We were a little bit down in the dumps there.
“We’ve shown some really good character over the last three weeks where we’ve been behind on the scoreboard but we’ve been able to come back.
“But we need to keep a lid on it. It’s a short turnaround now and that’s the challenge – to back up the performance against a really committed Warriors team who are coming off a great win from last week.”
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