Injured Thurston out for NRL season and World Cup
TOWNSVILLE, Australia (AP) Johnathan Thurston will miss the rest of the National Rugby League season and the World Cup to have surgery on his injured right shoulder.
The injury means Thurston's 37-game Queensland State-of-Origin career is likely over, with the North Queensland Cowboys five-eighth previously saying he planned to retire from representative football at the end of the year.
The 34-year-old Thurston re-injured his shoulder in Queensland's Origin series-leveling 18-16 victory over New South Wales on Wednesday when he made a tackle on Blues forward Tyson Frizell.
Thurston kicked the winning conversion from the sideline two minutes from fulltime to ensure the series is alive going into the deciding game three on July 12 in Brisbane, which Thurston will now miss.
''The news isn't good,'' Thurston said Friday. ''And the best decision for (me) and the club is to get the op done.
''I thought I might have been able to pump one or two more games out. But the medical advice I've been given is that if I wanted to live a normal life after football, then I had to have the surgery.''
The six-month recovery period will also end Thurston's hopes of finishing his representative career in the end-of-season home World Cup. The 14-team World Cup begins Oct. 27 with Australia set to play England in Melbourne.
The Maroons and Kangaroos veteran said he had no second thoughts on his decision to retire from representative football.
''It's a decision that I've made,'' he said. ''I wanted to finish on a high this year with representative football. I'm comfortable with that decision.''
Thurston has played with the Cowboys since 2005 and Saturday's home match against Penrith could have been his 300th NRL match after starting his career with Canterbury.
He has played 39 tests for Australia since 2006, scoring 13 tries and kicking 170 goals for 392 points.
