JT chapter sampler

‘OK,’ I said. ‘But you better pay up. And I’m going to spend it at the canteen after the game. Don’t tell me I have to save it for a car or something stupid.’ My professional rugby league career began when I was four. I was employed as a ball boy for the Acacia Ridge Hotel A-grade rugby league team. I couldn’t have cared less about football. I did it for soft drinks and sweets. Somewhere in Brisbane, on a suburban ground, this future Kangaroo picked up a football for the very first time because his dad offered him a dollar. My father, Graeme Thurston, was an A-grade footy player. He played for Acacia Ridge Hotel and also another club called Browns Plains. And apparently, he was pretty good. ‘Oh, he was a tough bugger,’ one of his mates told me later. ‘Real hard. I loved playing with him. When it was on, you wanted him by your side. I’m glad he was in my trench.’ Dad played a bit of hooker and also back row. He wasn’t a big bloke, but what he lacked in size he made up for with heart. Apparently he would take anyone on. I can’t remember too much of what he was like as a

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