Johnathan Thurston reveals Broncos legend Alfie Langer offered him $500 to MISS a vital conversion
Johnathan Thurston reveals the cheeky moment Broncos legend Alfie Langer offered him $500 to MISS a crucial conversion attempt in the 2015 NRL Grand Final
- Jonathan Thurston kicked the winning field goal in the Golden Point of the 2015 Grand Finals
- Big Cowboys missed a conversion after the siren to win the game in normal time
- He revealed that Alfie Langer tried to scare him off just before taking the stairs
Cowboys great Jonathan Thurston has revealed that former Queensland legend Alfie Langer offered him $500 in a desperate attempt to keep him off his game during the closing stages of the 2015 Grand Final.
The decider between the Cowboys and the Broncos has gone down in rugby league folklore as arguably the greatest grand final ever played, with North Queensland claiming a first premiership after winning 17-16 in golden point.
Trailing by four points when the final siren sounded, the Cowboys managed to make the score 16-16 when Kyle Feldt scored in the corner, giving Thurston the chance to become North Queensland’s hero.
That was until Langer, who was on the field as part of his water-carrying duties for the Broncos, adopted an unusual strategy to disrupt his preparation.
“I remember picking up the ball and heading to my set-up when Alfie Langer runs past me and says, ‘I’ll give you $500 if you miss,'” Thurston told the club. Guy In A Bar podcast.
Jonathan Thurston revealed that Allan Langer tried to scare him off in the 2015 NRL Grand Final with a tongue-in-cheek offer just before drafting a post-siren conversion
Langer, on the field as a water carrier for the Broncos, Thurston offered $500 to miss the kick
The big cowboys exploded in frustration after his kick hit the upright
“It made me even calmer because with my goal kicks, you know, the closer I am to the touchline, the further I go. [the kick] back.
“And this night we had a fair breeze behind my back, so that’s going to hold my hook up, so I only brought it back about 70 feet.
“When I’m in that position I normally take it back about 23 and then my hook can come around.”
Thurston did not take up Langer’s offer, feeling that he did everything he could to win the game for the Cowboys.
‘As a goalkeeper you just know that [the ball] going to sail through the posts,’ he recalled.
“As soon as it came out of the trunk, I could have put my house on it [going through].’
Thurston revealed that he had practiced the scenario over and over as his teammates splashed him with water and booed him to scare him off to replicate the conditions he might face in a grand final.
Lovely as the kick was, the ball hit the upright, much to Thurston’s frustration.
Thurston ended up having the last laugh as he kicked the winning field goal in golden punt
Thurston recalled that he knew instantly that the ball would fly through the posts as soon as it hit it
The Cowboys clinched their first premiership thanks to Thurston’s exploits
In the end it didn’t matter as the Queensland great boomed a field goal to win the game in gold point for the Cowboys.
After making the unusual decision to kick off in extra time, North Queensland got great field position as Ben Hunt dropped the ball inside the Broncos’ 10-yard line.
Denied a field goal opportunity on the first two plays of the Cowboys set, Thurston eventually got the ball in his hands and inscribed his name in North Queensland folklore.
“I dropped the ball and as soon as it left the boot I looked up and it sailed through the sticks,” he said.