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Johnathan Thurston's Origin career over! Star playmaker ruled out for the season

22nd June, 2017
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Johnathan Thurston must be made public enemy No. 1. (Image: Dan Peled/AAP)
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22nd June, 2017
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Queensland’s hopes of retaining the State of Origin shield have been dealt a massive blow, with superstar halfback Johnathan Thurston ruled out for the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.

Thurston, who is due to retire from all representative rugby league at the end of 2017, played a starring role for the Maroons in Origin 2. Despite battling through his shoulder injury for the entire game, the halfback led his side to a famous victory, kicking the winning conversion with just two minutes left on the clock.

However, Thurston’s heroics have cost him and his side. The halfback was seen in the changerooms with his shoulder heavily strapped after the comeback win, and the North Queensland Cowboys have now announced the future Immortal requires season-ending shoulder surgery.

“Given it was already an injured shoulder, the club and the player decided he had to undergo surgery immediately, effectively ending his season for 2013,” Cowboys coach Paul Green said.

“The news isn’t good,” Thurston said.

“And the best decision for myself and the club is to get the op done.

“I thought I might have been able to pump one or two more games out.

“But the medical advice I’ve been given is that if I wanted to live a normal life after football, then I had to have the surgery.”

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The date for the operation is yet to be confirmed, but it is certain that Thurston has now played his final Origin game.

“It’s a decision that I’ve made,” Thurston said.

“I wanted to finish on a high this year with representative football. I’m comfortable with that decision I’ve made to retire from rep football.”

The news is the second injury blow for the Maroons since winning Origin 2, with fellow star Darius Boyd ruled out for Game 3 with a broken thumb. Boyd’s exact return date will be known after he has surgery later on Friday afternoon.

With Anthony Milford also ruled out for more than a month with an injury of his own, it now seems Thurston’s North Queensland teammate Michael Morgan will step into the five-eighth position for Queensland in Game 3, although Corey Norman, Ben Hunt and Daly Cherry-Evans will all be hoping to come under consideration for the role.

The injury is also a terrible blow for the North Queensland Cowboys, whose premiership hopes now appear well and truly dashed without their talismanic playmaker, and for the Kangaroos. Australian coach Mal Meninga now faces the unenviable task of trying to find a playmaker to replace Thurston for the upcoming Rugby League World Cup.

Sharks and New South Wales five-eighth James Maloney was included as backup for Thurston in the Kangaroos’ first squad of the year for the Anzac Test and is currently the man most likely to take Thurston’s Kangaroos jersey. However, a number of other players, including Morgan, will also come under consideration for the five-eighth position.

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Thurston made his first Origin appearance in the opening game of the 2005 series and went on to play 36 consecutive games for the Maroons before missing Game 1 this year. He is the leading points-scorer in Origin history with 220 from his 37 total appearances, 24 of which ended in victories.

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