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There are four givens in Johnathan Thurston’s future as one of the greatest footballers to strap on a rugby league boot.
Shoulder surgery will keep him out of the Origin decider at Suncorp on July 12, and the six-month rehab will cost the 34-year-old a shot at the World Cup to be played in Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea in October and November.
The third given is if his shoulder is 100 per cent, he will play his final season for the Cowboys before retiring to become an Immortal.
Only last week Thurston said his Origin career is over, and he’s very comfortable with that decision.
But I wonder.
If NSW win the decider next month, and the shoulder surgery is successful after six months with no football whatsoever, I have a sneaking suspicion the champion will pull on a maroon jersey in 2018.
There’s another sneaky reason; he’s on 99 Origin goals.
Retirement is forever, and being the ultimate competitor, being one off 100 Origin goals would be tempting.
If anyone’s going to break his Origin record of 220 points, it’s a pretty safe bet he hasn’t been born yet.
Nobody is within a binocular distance.
Mal Meninga’s the closest with 162, then Michael O’Connor 129 and Andrew Johns on 96, while Ryan Girdler and Darren Lockyer share 82. All are retired.
The best of the current crop is Greg Inglis with 68, Darius Boyd on 64, Cameron Smith’s 52, Billy Slater with 48, and Jarryd Hayne’s 44.
So the 220 is very safe, so too the 99 goals, with Meninga the closest on 69.
Another three Origin games and he’ll be well past the 100-goal barrier, and be so far out of reach in total points with a few more tries, he’ll be in the Sir Donald Bradman super elite category of his sport.
There are so many other categories where Johnathan Thurston reigns supreme.
(AAP Image/Michael Chambers)
Four Dally M Medals as the best in the NRL, three Golden Boots as the best in the world, four times the RLIF player of the year, four times the Dally M halfback of the year, and three times the Dally M five eighth of the year. He’s also won two premierships, one with Canterbury and one with North Queensland.
The achievements and the awards just keep coming, but that 99 Origin goals mark is the carrot that might just get the champion to pull on another Maroon jersey.
He’ll be 35 with a brand new shoulder, to go out fully fit with a bang.
Another premiership would be the deserved icing on the cake.