Tomorrow night’s clash between the North Queensland Cowboys and Parramatta Eels will not only be the last chance for either side to avoid the wooden spoon for season 2018, but it will also mark the final appearance at home for one of Townsville’s best-loved sons.
After both clubs made the finals last year, neither have impressed in 2018, with the Eels propping up the ladder for the majority of the season and the Cowboys suffering a huge fall from grace following their inspiring run to the grand final without both co-captains in Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott.
Many expected that the Cowboys would go one better this season with both Thurston and Scott back on deck from their long-term injuries, but the club has instead gone backwards, winning only six games out of 19 so far and leaving them at risk of claiming their first wooden spoon since 2000.
But if they need any motivation to avoid finishing last for the first time in nearly two decades, it will be the occasion of Thurston playing at home in front of his fans for the final time before retiring at the end of the season.
While his achievements in the game are well-documented, only those that have followed his career closely will know that he arrived in Townsville having just featured in the Bulldogs’ 2004 premiership winning side as a replacement for injured captain Steve Price.
The Cowboys are set to farewell JT. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
He was one of several players who moved from Belmore to Townsville during the mid-noughties, following in the footsteps of Paul Rauhihi and then-captain Travis Norton.
Thurston had made his NRL debut as a 19-year-old in the middle of the 2002 season, during which the Bulldogs were stripped of 37 competition points and sent from the top of the ladder to the bottom of it in one hit following the discovery of salary cap breaches at the club.
Sixteen years on, the 35-year-old, who has just about won every award possible in rugby league, will want to ensure his career doesn’t come full circle with another wooden spoon.
It’s worth noting the Cowboys have avoided the wooden spoon twice in Thurston’s time at the club, the first in 2008 when the Bulldogs had a poorer for-and-against, and the other in 2010 when the Melbourne Storm were sentenced to finish that season last due to gross salary cap breaches.
As noted above, 2018 has been a season of unrelenting disappointment for the Cowboys, who have won only six games so far and have not strung together back-to-back wins since their run to the decider last year.
Prior to their 28-16 loss to the Sharks in Sydney last week, the Cowboys played arguably their best football of the season when they defeated the Brisbane Broncos by 34-30 at home, with Thurston pulling the strings.
Their fans must be wondering where this form was all season, with many believing they would not be where they are now had Scott Bolton been able to crash over in the two teams’ meeting in Brisbane earlier this year.
Instead, this year will mark the club’s first absence from a finals series in eight years, and the first under the coaching of Paul Green, who took over from Neil Henry at the end of the 2013 season.
With their premiership hopes dashed, all the club can do now is to send Johnathan Thurston, who many regard as the greatest NRL player in modern history, off with a win in his final appearance in Townsville, and all but hand the wooden spoon to the Parramatta Eels in the process.
There will be added incentive for the Cowboys to win, as it will also double as Matt Scott’s 250th NRL match as well as Jake Granville’s 100th match for the club after previously playing for the Brisbane Broncos.
As for the Parramatta Eels, they will also have their own motivation for wanting to avoid a third wooden spoon in seven years.
They were victorious the last time they played the Cowboys, winning by 20-14 in Darwin in Round 14, and a fortnight ago produced easily their best performance of the season when they thrashed the Dragons by 40-4.
Eels head coach Brad Arthur (AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
The win over the Red V was highlighted by a three-try performance from fullback Jarryd Hayne, who almost looks certain to remain at the Eels after being offered a new contract by the club.
While they lost to the Storm by 20-4 last Friday night, they were somewhat far from disgraced, with their only try coming in the final five minutes thanks to some acrobatic skills from Clint Gutherson.
Their clash against the Cowboys in Townsville this Friday night is effectively their final chance to avoid the wooden spoon, as they will start underdogs against the Roosters next week while the Cowboys will be favoured to beat the Titans on the Gold Coast.
But if the Eels can pull off another upset win in the tropics, as they did last year, then they can still avoid finishing last so long that they don’t lose to the Roosters by a larger margin than what the Cowboys beat the Titans by.
Instead of what could have been a potential finals preview when the fixture was released last year, both clubs will be out to avoid the embarrassment of winning the wooden spoon.
It will also mark the last time the joint 2014 Dally M Medallists, Johnathan Thurston and Jarryd Hayne, face each other in an NRL match.
The stakes will be higher for the Cowboys, with Thurston to play his final game at home and with Matt Scott and Jake Granville to bring up their aforementioned 250th and 100th club games respectively.
And so, can the Cowboys make it a celebration of a player who has just about achieved everything possible in rugby league, or will the Eels crash the party and ensure he finishes his career the way it started – with the wooden spoon?
We will all wait to see tomorrow night.
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