The untold story of how the Bulldogs let Johnathan Thurston sign with the Cowboys
Date: September 29 2015
Andrew Webster
There's the one that got away and then there's the story of how the Bulldogs inexplicably let the Cowboys pinch Johnathan Thurston – when he would have stayed in Sydney for less money.
Sitting in the carpark at Belmore, Thurston burst into tears when told that Canterbury no longer wanted him.
That was 2004, which seems an eternity away from Monday night when his status as one of the game's true greats was cemented after he claimed a record fourth Dally M player of the year award.
The 32-year-old's long-time manager Sam Ayoub has revealed to Fairfax Media the extraordinary decision from Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes and chief executive Malcolm Noad to let him go.
"He was offered between $220,000 and $240,000 a year [by the Cowboys], which was very good money back then," Ayoub said. "[Cowboys coach] Graham Murray saw a lot in him. The thing about it is that he didn't want to leave. He was happy. He wanted to stay at Canterbury.
"They got to $140,000 at that stage. I took Johnathan in, it was the third of July, and the Cowboys needed an answer. We met at 8am with Folkes and Noad. I said, 'This is the offer from the Cowboys. Johnathan is keen to stay here'. They had just signed Brent Sherwin for five years and Braith Anasta for three years. It was my better judgement that Johnathan should move on with those players ahead of him.
"But he was prepared to stay for 30 per cent less than what he was going to get at Townsville. Folkesy said, 'Nah mate, he should take that money and go'. We would've stayed there for $170,000.
"We went out to the carpark and sat in the car and I told him that it was a good thing, because he didn't have to make a decision. It had been made for him. Then he burst into tears because he really wanted to stay."
Hindsight is a wonderful but worthless commodity when it comes to player recruitment and retention, but this one must sting Dogs fans with Thurston poised to lead the Cowboys to a breakthrough premiership against the Broncos in the grand final on Sunday.
It was the Bulldogs who showed faith in him when others didn't, signing Thurston as a teenager when no other club wanted him because he was considered too small, too lean and a liability in defence.
Somewhere in Ayoub's Aladdin's cave of thousands of player contracts is one for Thurston for zero dollars with Canterbury. Months before this, Ayoub had emailed all clubs about the possibility of taking on the prodigious playmaker he knew would be a superstar.
The first club that had shown interest was the Roosters, but they also passed on Thurston because of concerns about his deficiencies in defence.
Folkes did not return text messages last night, but Noad said the club simply didn't have enough money in the salary cap to sign Thurston, who at that stage had only played a handful of first grade matches.
"There was no room to move on what we could offer him," recalled Noad. "If we had room to move, we would've moved to sign him. I don't recall Steve saying that [Thurston should take the money at the Cowboys]. He wanted him to stay. I don't recall Steve being ambivalent about keeping him. He had a high opinion of him. Nobody knew then how good Johnathan was going to be. He had only played a few first grade matches, and we were also trying to keep [off-contract captain] Steve Price. Both Steve and I very pleased to see how his career has played out."
http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-leag...-cowboys-20150929-gjxgiv.html?deviceType=text
Bit different to Ponga's situation really
