It’s a very tired and sore Johnathan Thurston who is about to finish his first week of the 2014 NRL pre-season.
Excused from training until Monday due to his late finish to 2013 thanks to the Rugby League World Cup, the Cowboys co-captain has had a hectic week which will be capped off by an opposed session at 1300SMILES Stadium on Saturday morning.
It’s given him the first chance to work closely with new head coach Paul Green.
“It’s been tough, the first week back in the office,” Thurston said today.
“The legs are sore and it’s been tough mentally, but it’s been great to get back into the swing of things.
“It’s a fresh start for all the boys and we’ve been training well.
“The boys have been training the house down like every club does at this time of year.
“We’ve got our first trial coming up in three weeks then the Nines and our main trial in Toowoomba so footy’s not too far away and to have the full squad training now is what we need to do.”
Thurston said the coach was a “very happy man” on Monday to finally have his full squad together with his two co-captains and Brent Tate the last to officially kick off their pre-seasons.
“I know everyone’s working extremely hard on the systems Greeny is putting in place,” the Cowboys’ No.6 said.
“It’s very new to us and we need to make sure over the next few weeks that we focus on getting it right coming into the trials.
“Expectations, and things like that, we haven’t spoken about at all.
“What we’re worried about is getting our systems in place and working extremely hard when we have the opportunity to be on the paddock.”
