With a vengeance: Johnathan Thurston returned in style to destroy the Eels. Credit:Getty Images

Norman conquest

With Thurston's comeback grabbing the headlines, the return of Corey Norman was relegated to an afterthought. But according to Norman, he didn't deserve any more than that. "I put my hand up for that one – when it got tough I didn't step up," the Parramatta five-eighth told a local ABC reporter. "It's a bad loss. It's a bit embarrassing. We were a bit frantic when we got down there, I just needed a level head." JT, on the other hand, inspired awe in his teammates. "Parra were into him all night," said fullback Lachlan Coote. "The way he was getting hit and getting back up and making plays like that, it's a credit to him and it's good to have him back in the team." The crowd of 11,968 was a record for a rugby league game in Darwin. We're back there for the World Cup.

Will the real referee please stand up?

The intriguing thing about Shane Flanagan's "referee Smith" comment on Thursday night will be the impact it has on the real referees. Anyone with the sound turned up on their television over the weekend could hear that Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston have more confidence talking to the whistlers than other captains. They may not have any more influence but the match officials were already getting visibly jumpy over the issue just two days after Flanagan's little dig. The referees in Darwin repeatedly tried to reassure Parramatta's Beau Scott they were not offering Thurston undue protection. "Not just him, not just because it was him," we could hear them saying when the Cowboys got a penalty in kicking range after JT was roughed up. "I've always got a target on my head," Thurston said afterwards. In the way these things normally work, Melbourne and North Queensland will eventually be disadvantaged by the whole thing, when a ref or two over-corrects to prove how impervious he is to articles like this.