Thurston joins 300 Club

North Queensland Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston will start the 2018 season by reaching his 300^th NRL match tonight against the Sharks at 1300SMILES Stadium.

Thurston will become the 30^th player to join the illustrious ‘300 Club’ – which includes current players Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Chris Heighington, Luke Lewis, Ryan Hoffman and Paul Gallen.

The Souths Sunnybank junior made his NRL debut for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in Round 13 of the 2002 season, playing a total of 29 games for the Club – with his final appearance being the 2004 premiership victory.

Thurston joined the Cowboys in 2005 – leading North Queensland to their first-ever Grand Final that season, before eventually taking the Townsville-based side to their maiden premiership victory in 2015.

The four-time Players’ Champion and Dally M Medal winner has played 270 NRL games for the Cowboys and will tonight surpass Matt Bowen as the most-capped player in the Club’s history.

Thurston’s impressive career also includes an array of representative games, with 37 matches for Queensland, 38 Tests for Australia, six Indigenous All Stars caps and two Prime Minister’s XIII appearances.

The Rugby League Players’ Association would like to congratulate Thurston on joining the ‘300 Club’ and on his numerous accomplishments within those games.

 

Appearances	Player	Club/s	Years
358	Cameron Smith	Melbourne	2002-2018
355	Darren Lockyer	Brisbane	1995-2001
350	Terry Lamb	Wests, Canterbury	1980-1996
349	Steve Menzies	Manly, Northern Eagles	1993-2008
347	Corey Parker	Brisbane	2001-2016
336	Brad Fittler	Penrith, Sydney Roosters	1989-2004
332	Cliff Lyons	Norths, Manly	1985-1999
330	Nathan Hindmarsh	Parramatta	1998-2012
328	Andrew Ettingshausen	Cronulla	1983-2000
325	Geoff Gerard	Parramatta, Manly, Penrith	1974-1989
323	Cooper Cronk	Melbourne, Sydney Roosters	2004-2018
318	Jason Croker	Canberra	1991-2006
317	Hazem El Masri	Bulldogs	1996-2009
317	Chris Heighington	Wests Tigers, Cronulla, Newcastle	2003-2018
315	Paul Langmack	Canterbury, Wests, Easts	1983-1999
315	Luke Priddis	C’berra, B’bane, P’rith, St Geo Il	1997-2010
313	Steve Price	Bulldogs, Warriors	1994-2009
313	Brent Kite	St Geo Ill, Manly, Penrith	2002-2015
312	Ruben Wiki	Canberra, Warriors	1993-2008
309	Petero Civoniceva	Brisbane, Penrith	1998-2012
307	Brett Kimmorley	N’stle, H’ter, Melb, N Eag, C’nulla, C’bury	1995-2010
307	Luke Lewis	Penrith, Cronulla	2001-2018
305	Ryan Hoffman	Melbourne, Warriors	2003-2018
304	Paul Gallen	Cronulla Sharks	2001-2018
303	Anthony Watmough	Northern Eagles, Manly, Parramatta	2002-2015
302	Anthony Minichiello	Sydney Roosters	2000-2014
301	Luke Ricketson	Sydney Roosters	1991-2005
300	Scott Prince	N’th Qld, B’bane, Wests Tig, Gold C’st	1998-2013
300	John Morris	N’tle, P’matta, Wests Tigers, Cronulla	2001-2014