“HE’S looking like someone that’s possibly played the game a little bit too long.”

When rugby league legend Greg Alexander said those words about Johnathan Thurston earlier in the year, they made headlines.

Could ‘Brandy’ be right? Has the great JT, someone who will one day be named an Immortal, overstayed his time in the NRL?

Round 20

At the time of Alexander’s comments, Thurston had only played five games after making a return from shoulder surgery last year.

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Sure, the then-34-year-old — now 35 — was looking a little slower and his North Queensland team were struggling.

No one predicted the steep decline of the Cowboys this season, especially after their grand final appearance in 2017 without the likes of Thurston and Matt Scott.

Johnathan Thurston has had a stellar career. Source: FOX SPORTS

And with Thurston’s men languishing at the bottom of the NRL ladder for most of the season, the perception that one of the game’s greatest-ever players had played too long hung around.

But numbers provided by Fox Sports Lab prove Thurston is still very much one of the game’s top attacking weapons.

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Heading into Saturday’s clash with Gold Coast — his last-ever NRL game — Thurston sits atop the competition in both try assists and linebreak assists.

Johnathan Thurston does a lap of honour after his last NRL game in Townsville. Picture: Zak Simmonds Source: News Corp Australia

In try assists, Thurston has 24 for the season, two more than Titans young gun Ash Taylor, who he’ll face at Cbus Super Stadium, and five more than Manly’s Tom Trbojevic.

In linebreak assists, the former Australia and Queensland representative sits on 27, five clear of South Sydney’s Cody Walker and eight ahead of Cronulla’s Matt Moylan.

Not bad for an ‘old’ bloke.

One former player who experienced the brilliance of Thurston as both a teammate and rival is Justin Hodges.

“I definitely liked playing with him, not against him,” Hodges told Queenslanders Only.

“Every time you played against him he was always a nightmare because he was such a wonderful player.

“You quickly learnt how good of a player he was and just how much he competed on and off the field.

“He just had to win everything otherwise he’d have to start again. He’s just an absolute champion player.

“To be told at a young age that you’re not good enough to make it because you’re too small, it just goes to show that if there’s anyone sitting at home who’s been told that, he’s proved everyone wrong and become one of the greatest players of all-time, if not the greatest.”