Friday 19 February 2016 10:44, UK
The greatest player in rugby league at the moment will be in action at Headingley on Sunday.
Johnathan Thurston is not only the greatest current player, he is going to go down as one of the all-time greats.
The 32-year-old is odds-on to be made the ninth Immortal once he retires, and his story is fascinating.
From washing cars to winning the Grand Final
Here is a player who was told throughout his formative rugby league years of 17 to 19, 'you're too small, you're too fragile and you're too much of a liability in defence'.
This is after his parents had made huge sacrifices, including sending him away so he could focus on rugby league. They held raffles in the local pub and rugby league club in order to raise the $700 that was needed to send JT away on an U17 camp with Queensland.
He was taking his rugby league seriously, having been a self-confessed 'ratbag' when he was younger, and two coaches came up to see him. They were Nathan Brown, who is now at Newcastle, and Ricky Stuart, who at the time was Jersey Flegg coach at the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Stuart was the only one who pursued him. He pleaded with JT to relocate to Sydney, but couldn't offer him any money. Thurston signed a zero-dollars contract; you don't want to be signing too many of them in your life.
He had to wash cars from Monday to Friday to fund himself. He trained during the week and played at weekends. He got a run-out under Stuart and made his first-team appearance, but was in and out of the team. When anyone that he replaced came back from injury, JT was dropped.
In the 2004 Grand Final, a late injury to Steven Price saw Thurston parachuted in. He came off the bench, Canterbury won, and he gave his ring to Price.
Reality check
By that stage the Bulldogs had offered him a contract but it was a lot less than the offer being waved by the Cowboys. He wanted to stay at Canterbury and sat in his agent's car in tears after he was given the news that they wouldn't retain him, at what he thought was a fair market price.
So up to North Queensland he went and they got to the Grand Final the following season, where he was named Dally M player of the year. He went stratospheric in the NRL in 2005 but came short of winning the grand prize.
Thurston was also a star performer during Queensland's eight-year dominance in the State of Origin. He was the only player to play in every one of the 24 games as they won eight consecutive series.
But then his enjoyment of life probably overtook his commitment to the game. It culminated in an arrest in Brisbane in 2010 for alleged drunk and disorderly behaviour, which was subsequently dropped. However, being pictured coming out of a police station was not a good look for the captain of North Queensland and the Cowboys were unhappy with his approach to the game.
A few different people sat him down and one of them was Phil Gould, the most successful New South Wales coach of all time. He was up in Queensland working as a consultant for the Cowboys.
Gould asked Thurston how he wants to be remembered. When you finish your career you want to do it on an upward trajectory, not on a downward spiral. Thurston took that on board and turned his life around. He met his partner Samantha, who is now his wife, and everything since then has been phenomenal.
Things to look out for
He does everything with a smile on his face. He gets frustrated when things don't go right, as everybody does, but he is a happy man and plays that way.
Watch him with he kicks a goal. He can convert it, he can miss it; either way, the first thing he does is pick up the tee and hand it to the ball boy or girl. In one game he threw it on the ground but immediately snapped out of it, picked up the tee and handed it to them.
He gives away his headgear after every game, making somebody's day, and he also does a lot for the indigenous community.
International allegiances
Thurston has starred for Australia but he was approached in 2004 to play for New Zealand. His father is a Kiwi and Daryl Hannigan, the great Kiwi winger, rang Thurston up and asked him if he would consider playing for New Zealand.
Although he played in the Grand Final with Canterbury that year, Thurston wasn't the hot property he is now. He took the time to consider it and spoke with his parents, but he still had the dream about playing for Australia so he turned them down.
He made his Australia debut in 2006 and the rest is history.
2015 Grand Final
The hooter had sounded, the Cowboys had scored a try in the corner from the final play against Brisbane to tie it up at 16-16, and Thurston had a kick to win the Grand Final.
Thurston is a Brisbane boy and the Broncos rejected him when he was younger.
Alan Langer, Brisbane's assistant coach, walked up to him as he was readying himself for the kick and said, 'I'll give you $500 if you miss it'. Thurston told him where to go and lined his kick up, only for it to come back off the post.
The game went to golden point extra-time but following Ben Hunt's knock-on, Thurston slotted over the drop goal. Cool, composed and in the midst of the most pressurised kick in the world, he was still able to have a humorous interaction with a member of the opposition.
Thurston is a phenomenal athlete and Leeds will be wary of his show-and-go. If you want to see a master at work, with a smile on his face, tune in on Sunday night.
He has got a great surrounding cast around him and this is not a one-man team by any means, but the man they have at the helm is the world's greatest. And as you can see by the video below, he still doesn't take himself too seriously.
Watch Leeds Rhinos v North Queensland Cowboys live on Sky Sports 1 HD on Sunday from 6.30pm. Catch the match for £6.99 on NOW TV. No contract.
