Thurston wins Cowboys the NRL grand final

A Johnathan Thurston golden-point field goal has handed North Queensland a dramatic 17-16 NRL grand final win over Brisbane.

Clive Churchill medal winner Thurston missed his first chance to give the Cowboys their maiden premiership when his missed converting Kyle Feldt’s 80th-minute try from the sideline.

But a Ben Hunt knock-on from the start of golden point put the Cowboys in perfect field position and Thurston nailed the premiership-winning one-pointer from 15m out.

“I’m speechless,” Thurston told the Nine Network.

“Wow, I can’t believe what I’ve just done – I just love this club.”

After Brisbane defended stoutly for the final 20 minutes of the match, repelling Cowboys defensive raids time and time again, Feldt scored after the siren from a brilliant one-handed offload from Michael Morgan.

Thurston waited several minutes before he lined up what would have been a match-winning conversion, only for it to hit the right hand post as it curved late.

But when he was handed the opportunity a second time, he didn’t miss in the 82nd minute.

It was a tough way for the Broncos to lose, after they had spent so much time defending their own line.

After the Broncos led 14-12 at halftime, the sole second-half points until after the siren were a 43rd-minute penalty goal to Jordan Kahu.

Morgan was held up over the line early in the second half, before Kane Linnett dropped the ball with the line wide open in the 61st minute. Three minutes later, Morgan was penalised for a double movement.

But that all mattered little after Thurston’s heroics.

“This means so much to everyone up there,” Cowboys coach Paul Green said.

“We’ve been trying for 20 years to take a premiership up there and we have finally done it.

“The ice that Thurston showed there was incredible.”

Thurston’s field goal capped off a highly entertaining fixture.

Corey Parker opened proceedings in the fifth minute with a penalty goal.

The Broncos then set the game alight from the re-start. Adam Blair offloaded to Anthony Milford who found Jack Reed in space, the England international passed to Corey Oates who raced 50m to complete the 95m movement and open up an 8-0 lead for the Broncos.

But the Cowboys hit back immediately. A Matt Gillett dropped ball gave them good field position and, from the ensuing scrum, Jake Granville dummied his way through the Broncos’ line before putting Justin O’Neill over.

North Queensland enjoyed the better of field position early, with 65 per cent of the game being played at Brisbane’s end. That resulted in a Cowboys lead when Granville put James Tamou over from close range, as Sam Thaiday slipped off a tackle.

Thurston’s second conversion put the Cowboys ahead 12-8.

The first half then turned on a dropped ball by Thurston, 35m out from his own line. Brisbane immediately counter-attacked and Reed forced his way over in the 34th minute. Kahu’s conversion put the Broncos ahead 14-12, the halftime score.

In the clutch, Thurston finally ticked off the only thing he hadn’t achieved in the game of rugby league. In the process, he sent out retiring Brisbane captain Justin Hodges a loser and handed Broncos coach Wayne Bennett his first loss in a decider in eight times as a sole head coach.

“It was a tough game to lose, but we have had a great year,” Broncos back-rower Sam Thaiday said.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!