The Collision
In this week's edition of Fast Footy, the collision where I- Lanky ask hard hitting questions to yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's greatest players. This week I caught up with the legend himself Johnathan Thurston. After watching JT arguably the greatest player to ever live and the soon to be 9th immortal of the NRL I was shaking in my boots to meet the man of many feats.
G’day JT how are you going mate
Yeah good could be better me shoulders not great
Alright mate I have a few questions for you today but I’ll let you off easy with this first one.
What's it like to be called the greatest player of all time
Well to tell you the truth at the start of my career I would never have dreamed about me sitting here today having done the things I have. I was told when I first started out that I was too small and couldn’t tackle. This lit a fire in my belly and I have been hungry ever since. I always make it my business to chase down my kicks, It really pisses me of when I see great players be lazy and not see their potential.
Well you certainly put the work in mate and it’s paid off. Alright mate you have missed two origins due to injury one being your final game. Who would you say has helped you through the tough times?
Well my mum is the best mum in the world she's always there for me, but my motivation to push through the tough times is my beautiful wife Sam and my two darlin girls Frankie and Charlie every time I lay my eyes on them it pushes me to my best because they all love me and most of all believe in me. Also my close mates like smith and Slater, they were the first to call after my operation seeing how I went and asking how they could help. Cameron even made me bed for me before I got back home, god he’s a wanker.
That’s incredible mate, what was it like to walk out with your family last Wednesday night with your wife and kids in front of 80,000 fans all screaming your name that would have had to be pretty emotional.
Well to say goodbye to origin was never going to be easy but I knew my shoulder wasn’t good in the second and I knew I wouldn't be able to play the third so I made sure to bust me guts to get the boys home in the dying minutes. Then not playing the third was gut wrenching but I would like to thank everyone who made that possible.
Mate you seem to thrive under pressure after missing the conversion in the 2015 Grand Final to win what was going through your head when you line up the kick in game 2
I love pressure to be honest 2015 wasn’t even going through my mind but all the booing and yelling makes me want it more and especially its the blues fans. You know as soon as you kick the ball if it’s going in or not but on this occasion I couldn’t have struck it sweeter.
If there was one player that you least liked playing against who would it be?
No doubt Beau Scott every time I got the ball he seemed to be right there trying to take my head off or tackle me as hard as he can.
Alright mate that's all we need thanks so much for coming today
No worries at all mate thanks for having me
By Luke Newham