Defensive effort impresses Thurston

North Queensland’s defensive effort in the crushing victory over the New Zealand Warriors was a supreme one, according to Johnathan Thurston.

The Cowboys boosted their NRL finals chances by running in eight tries in a rampant 52-12 victory in Townsville, conceding just a try in either half.

Co-captain Thurston says that despite the dominant attacking performance, it was the Cowboys’ defensive display that proved valuable.

“They’re a very talented side the Warriors and they threw a lot at us with some second phase play with Feleti (Mateo) and the boys,” Thurston told the Cowboys’ official website.

“We handled that well.”

Recent defeats to Canterbury and Manly had dented their chances of qualifying but not their confidence, added Thurston.

“Even though we’d had a couple of losses in our last two games, there were a lot of positives out of that,” he said.

“We took that into this game, had a good preparation during the week and that’s what we need to keep doing.

“We’ve been building over the last couple of weeks.”