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Johnathan Thurston is the greatest rugby league player of all time

5th October, 2015
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Johnathan Thurston with his 4th Dally M award. With another premiership to his name, can we just call him the greatest ever and move on? (AAP Image/Michael Chambers)
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5th October, 2015
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There, I said it.

North Queensland’s 17-16 win over the Broncos is a watershed moment in rugby league, as it means we can now stop discussing Johnathan Thurston’s rank among the current crop and start talking about his position among the game’s all-time greats.

What better player to compare him to than the other great halfback of our time, Andrew Johns?

Joey is the latest player to be named an Immortal, and was named halfback in the NRL’s Team of the Century in 2007.

If Thurston’s better than Johns, he’s surely the greatest man to ever pull on a pair of boots.

The numbers
Thurston has now won two premierships, one off the bench with with the Bulldogs in 2004 and one with the Cowboys in 2015. Johns also has two premierships under his belt, winning the title in 1997 and 2001 with Newcastle.

At representative level, Thurston has an unbroken run of State of Origins, playing 33 games and scoring 200 points, dwarfing Johns’ 94-point tally. Thurston has won nine Origin series compared to Johns’ five.

Continuing the one-upmanship, Thurston just won his fourth Dally M medal, 10 years after winning his first. Johns has only three medals to his name.

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In his 249 club appearances, Johns scored 2176 points, while Thurston has scored only 1762 in 264 games. But JT is the better goalkicker, with a career average of 79 per cent to Johns’ 74.25 per cent.

The man
Some will argue that the tale of the tape doesn’t tell the whole story. Both men excel at running to the line and pinpoint passing. I’ve watched Thurston throw a cutout pass to Darius Boyd for a try more times than I’d like to remember. Both can kick to the corner and land it on a sixpence.

Johns changed rugby league, which is a near-impossible thing for an individual to do. Pre-Johns there were only a couple of kick types in the game, today there are a dozen. But what Johns changed, Thurston perfected. The modern game is faster than in Johns’ time, making Thurston’s dominance still more impressive.

In his life after footy, Andrew Johns faltered. His drug use admission and a horse-racing scandal overshadowed his stellar career. During grand final week Johns was snapped in that photo at Toowoomba airport – a lowly figure compared to the invincible Thurston.

JT is league’s redeemer in a season marred by players accused of domestic violence, drug scandals and falling crowds. Immortality awaits.

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