84 Facts About Johnathan Thurston

Johnathan Dean Thurston was born on 25 April 1983 and is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the National Rugby League.

Johnathan Thurston played as a halfback or five-eighth and was a noted goal-kicker.

Johnathan Thurston started his career at the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs, where he won the 2004 NRL premiership.

Johnathan Thurston moved to the North Queensland Cowboys in 2005, playing in that year's grand final.

Johnathan Thurston was the 2008 Wally Lewis medalist for State of Origin player of the series.

Johnathan Thurston was the only player to play in all 24 games of Queensland's eight-year State of Origin winning streak from 2006, having played 36 consecutive Origin matches from his debut in 2005.

Also in 2015, Johnathan Thurston co-captained the North Queensland Cowboys, along with teammate Matt Scott, to their inaugural NRL Premiership.

Johnathan Thurston was the 2015 Clive Churchill Medallist for grand final man of the match.

Johnathan Thurston was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, to a Gunggari mother and a New Zealand-born father.

Johnathan Thurston began playing rugby league at a very young age for Souths Sunnybank RLFC in Brisbane's southside.

At 12, Johnathan Thurston signed a scholarship deal with the South Queensland Crushers.

Once Johnathan Thurston had the opportunity he was selected for the Queensland U-19 side that year.

Johnathan Thurston scored 2 tries from 7 games in his debut season.

Johnathan Thurston was limited to 7 appearances for the 2002 season due to the Bulldogs' salary cap breach, as his payments for first-grade matches would have continued to breach the NRL's salary cap.

Johnathan Thurston played in 15 matches and scored four tries in 2003.

Johnathan Thurston played 7 matches and scored 4 tries for the year.

In 2015, it was revealed that Johnathan Thurston had wanted to stay at Canterbury beyond the 2004 season but the management at the club had re-signed Sherwin and Anasta.

Johnathan Thurston became the starting halfback for the Cowboys, and his consistency earned him his first Queensland State of Origin jersey.

At club level Johnathan Thurston was awarded the Halfback of the Year award and the prestigious Dally M Medal as the 2005 NRL season's Player of the Year, helping North Queensland to the 2005 NRL Grand Final, the first for the club.

Johnathan Thurston played in 26 matches, scored 5 tries, kicked 28 goals and kicked 2 field goals in the 2005 NRL season.

Johnathan Thurston played in all 3 matches and kicked 7 goals.

The Cowboys suffered without Johnathan Thurston and missed the finals coming at 9th place, Johnathan Thurston finished the year with him playing in 17 matches, scoring 11 tries and kicking 49 goals.

Johnathan Thurston later recovered from his injury at the end of the regular NRL season and played for the Prime Minister's XIII before making the Australian squad for the Tri-Nations tournament.

Johnathan Thurston was chosen to play halfback for the first and second games against New Zealand where he was rewarded 'Man of Match' honours for the first game.

Johnathan Thurston led well as captain for the Cowboys and the team improved dramatically from the previous year to finish a strong third place on the ladder by the end of the regular season.

On 4 September 2007, Johnathan Thurston won the Halfback of the Year and the Dally M Medal Player of the Year Award for the second time in three years, narrowly edging out Wests Tigers' Robbie Farah due to his strong performances in the final rounds of the regular season.

Johnathan Thurston played in 25 matches, scored 10 tries and kicked 78 goals for the Cowboys in the 2007 season.

Johnathan Thurston was named the Wally Lewis Player of the Series.

Johnathan Thurston played 17 matches, scored 4 tries and kicked 39 goals for the Cowboys in the 2008 NRL season.

On 7 October 2008, Johnathan Thurston was confirmed in the final 24-man Australian squad.

Johnathan Thurston played in 23 matches, scored 11 tries and kicked 79 goals for the Cowboys in the 2009 NRL season.

Johnathan Thurston travelled with the Australian national team to Europe for the 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament.

Johnathan Thurston was the tournament's top point-scorer with 36 points from a try and 17 goals.

Johnathan Thurston finished the 2010 NRL season with him playing in 17 matches, scoring 2 tries, kicking 43 goals and kicking 1 field goal for the Cowboys.

Johnathan Thurston missed the 2010 Rugby League Four Nations series due to an ankle injury.

Johnathan Thurston, who had to be driven off the field on the Medi-Cab initially feared he would be out for the rest of the season, however early prognosis claimed that with immediate surgery, he could be back by Round 25, and in time for a possible Cowboys finals appearance.

At the time of his injury, Johnathan Thurston was leading the Dally M Medal ladder by two clear man-of-the-match performances.

Johnathan Thurston played in 19 matches, scored 10 tries and kicked 61 goals for the Cowboys in the 2011 NRL season.

Johnathan Thurston tallied 52 points during the tournament, scoring 3 tries and converting 22 goals from 25 attempts.

Johnathan Thurston was rewarded for a fantastic 2011 season with the Golden Boot Award.

Johnathan Thurston played 24 matches, scored 3 tries, kicked 90 goals and kicked 1 field goal for the Cowboys in the 2012 NRL season.

At the 2012 Dally M Awards Johnathan Thurston was named the NRL's five-eighth of the year.

On 11 March 2013, Johnathan Thurston signed the richest deal in rugby league's history, ensuring he would stay at the North Queensland Cowboys.

Johnathan Thurston led the Cowboys alongside Matt Bowen and Brent Tate to the 2013 finals with a run of 6 consecutive wins.

Johnathan Thurston played in 22 matches, scored 2 tries, kicked 71 goals and kicked 1 field goal for the Cowboys in the 2013 NRL season.

Johnathan Thurston broke the 31-year-old record of Mick Cronin, passing the record of 309 test points for the Kangaroos.

Johnathan Thurston played in five matches, scored two tries, and kicked 33 goals in the tournament.

On 17 January 2014 Johnathan Thurston was announced as 2013's Golden Boot Award winner following his prominence in Australia's World Cup and Queensland's State of Origin successes.

Johnathan Thurston went on to play five-eighth for Queensland in the 2014 State of Origin series.

Johnathan Thurston continued playing at halfback throughout the back end of the season, up to the Cowboys Finals Week 2 controversial match against the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The switch to halfback following the Origin series, Johnathan Thurston produced a lot of great and strong playing performances every week until their elimination from the finals, winning 8 from 10 games while playing in the halfback position.

Johnathan Thurston finished off the 2014 NRL season with him playing in 24 matches, scoring 11 tries, kicking 93 goals and kicking 4 field goals for the Cowboys.

For Johnathan Thurston, it was his third Dally M Player of the Year award following his win in 2007 and he was a multiple award winner on the night, claiming the Five-eighth of the Year and the Provan-Summons Medal awards.

Johnathan Thurston was ruled out of Australia's 2014 Four Nations campaign due to a shoulder injury.

On 13 February 2015, Johnathan Thurston was selected to play at halfback for the Indigenous All Stars in the 2015 All Stars match at Cbus Super Stadium.

However, after snatching victory in a dramatic round 4 win over the Melbourne Storm, the Cowboys began their club record 11 game winning streak, with Johnathan Thurston winning multiple Man of the Match awards in the process.

On 28 September 2015, at the 2015 Dally M Awards, Johnathan Thurston won the 2015 Dally M Player of the Year by a record margin of 11 points.

Johnathan Thurston then missed the conversion to win the premiership, resulting in golden point extra time.

North Queensland won the toss, electing to kick, and following a knock on by Ben Hunt from the kick-off, Johnathan Thurston kicked a field goal in the 82nd minute, securing the North Queensland Cowboys' first ever premiership.

Johnathan Thurston finished his brilliant 2015 NRL season with him playing in 24 matches, scoring 4 tries, kicking 93 goals and kicking 6 field goals for the Cowboys.

On 15 December 2015, Johnathan Thurston was named at halfback and captain for the Indigenous All Stars team to play against the new World All Stars team on 13 February 2016.

Johnathan Thurston received man of the match honours at Full-Time.

At the 2016 Dally M Awards, Johnathan Thurston was nominated for four awards including; Captain of the Year, Representative of the Year, Halfback of the Year and Provan Summons Medalist.

Johnathan Thurston finished equal second in the Dally M Player of the Year voting with 22 points.

Johnathan Thurston was named in the Australian Kangaroos test squad of 24 for the 2016 Four Nations tournament a week after the 2016 NRL Grand Final.

Johnathan Thurston ended the series as the highest point scorer with 32 points from his three games.

Johnathan Thurston had been nagged by injury troubles all through 2017.

Johnathan Thurston recovered from that injury in-time to play in the 2017 ANZAC Test for Australia.

Queensland won game 2 in a close one with Johnathan Thurston injuring his shoulder but scoring the winning points by kicking a goal to convert a late try.

Johnathan Thurston returned to the Cowboys at the beginning of the new season, finally playing his 300th match in Round 1 against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks after missing the back end of the 2017 season.

In 2014, Johnathan Thurston was made a life member of the North Queensland Cowboys.

In 2015 and 2018, Johnathan Thurston was named Philips Sports Dad of the Year.

In 2015, Johnathan Thurston was named as Big League Magazines Player of the Year, he was named at Halfback in the magazines team of the year section.

In 2015, Johnathan Thurston was presented the Channel 9 Wide World of Sports Golden Kenny trophy for Australian sports star of the year.

Johnathan Thurston was a finalist in Cleo magazine's Most Eligible Bachelors for 2006.

Johnathan Thurston is a shareholder of Collings Aviation Holdings which in March 2015 bought out Cairns based airline Skytrans after it fell into administration.

Since 2008, Johnathan Thurston has been in a relationship with Samantha Lynch.

Johnathan Thurston is a Catholic and once offered a priest free air-travel to Coen to conduct Mass.

In 2022, Johnathan Thurston provided a voice cameo in an episode of Australian children's show Bluey, entitled "The Decider", in which he provided sideline analysis for a fictional State of Origin match between Queensland and New South Wales.

In late 2005, Johnathan Thurston was one of 13 NRL players who posed for the League of Their Own 2006 calendar that was produced in the style of the Dieux du Stade calendars to raise money for the Koori Kids foundation.

Johnathan Thurston was chosen to appear on the cover of the calendar.

Johnathan Thurston has worked with the Indigenous communities of North Queensland and the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.

In December 2017 Johnathan Thurston was awarded the Australian Human Rights Commission Medal for his work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

In 2017 Johnathan Thurston Also won the Queenslander of the Year award and in 2018 was nominated for the Australian of the Year award.