Johnathan Thurston’s representative farewell tour is set to kick off with Australia’s rugby league Test in Canberra on Friday night, teammate Cooper Cronk has declared.
Thurston is all but certain to take on the Kiwis after completing Tuesday’s training run, while Darius Boyd is also on track to play despite failing to finish the session.
“He’s (Boyd) absolutely fine. He’s getting treatment and there’s no issue whatsoever. He’ll be lining up in the number one jersey on Friday night,” Cronk said on Wednesday.
And while much of the spotlight surrounds skipper Cameron Smith becoming just the second Australian to reach the 50-Test milestone, the party will also extend to veteran Thurston.
The Kangaroos five-eighth has already announced his intention to retire from the representative scene at the end of the year, and Cronk says the team will approach the occasion accordingly.
“He’s probably having a few farewells and swansongs this year in the representative arena … and rightly so,” Cronk said.
“But Johnathan Thurston’s not a selfish player. He wouldn’t be playing this game if he didn’t think he could contribute and he will on Friday night.
“I think he’s done everything possible – he’s ticked all the boxes and Mal Meninga and the senior playing group have a lot of faith in Johnathan.
The Test could also be one of many “lasts” for Cronk himself, who declared his intention to leave Melbourne at the end of the year and move to Sydney to join his fiance.
However the 33-year-old has shelved thoughts surrounding the possibility of this being his own year-long send-off as he focuses on whether to retire or play on with a Sydney club next year.
“I’m more thinking about, ‘do I want to play on or not’, and I haven’t really had those thoughts. I suppose in hindsight, it possibly could be (his final year),” he said.
“But I think there’s a few other things to focus on in terms preparation for this week. This year has the potential to be a massive year for the Kangaroos.
“I thought we made some really good steps in the right direction in the Four Nations campaign last year under Mal. That’s the expectation going forward for 2017.”
Anzacish
Guest
I thought the handing out of the best player award in memory of our last VC winner Cam Baird was rank opportunism by the RL (his charity as do many others support army members injured in war) as he has no identifiable link to RL and it would be better to name it jointly after one NZ and one Aussie RL players who died in war. However apparently its the last Anzac Test (and an Anzac Test in May is problematic at best) so maybe its passably OK.