COWBOYS superstar Johnathan Thurston is officially the No.1 player in rugby league.

Better than even Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Greg Inglis or any other NRL champion.

An analysis of points awarded in the Dally M Medal since 2007 is the proof that no other player has excelled so consistently.

In the past six seasons the champion Cowboys, Queensland and Kangaroos five-eighth has chalked up 140 Dally M points at an average of 23.3 per season.

It’s a mighty performance to play so brilliantly and so consistently over six straight seasons at the elite level. No wonder he is a firming favourite to become only the second player – alongside Immortal Andrew Johns – as a three-time Medal winner at Tuesday night’s gala dinner.

On the score of consistency, Storm fullback Billy Slater is second behind Thurston with 128 points over the same period of time. Next up the hookers, Wests Tigers skipper Robbie Farah (127) and Test captain Cameron Smith (123).

Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk (112) is the only other player in the game to have tallied more than 100 points since 2007.

Thurston is a huge chance of storming home to win Tuesday night’s award at The Star casino ballroom. He was on 13 points – just three behind the leader Cronk – before almost single handedly engineering the Cowboys’ miraculous fightback to make the finals this year.

No-one would be happier than Johns, the Immortal who has always been in awe of Thurston’s freakish talents.

Matthew Johns even declared in The Daily Telegraph earlier this year that Thurston could finish up a better player than his brother. A big statement but one Joey actually agrees with.

The other player sure to be in strong contention is Newcastle Knights five-eighth and captain Jarrod Mullen. He was just one point behind Cooper Cronk when the voting closed and, like Thurston, was on fire in the final rounds of the competition.

Cronulla’s Todd Carney was considered a huge chance towards the end of the season but missed the last two premiership games with his hamstring injury.

The big question mark is over South Sydney’s champion fullback Greg Inglis, who was just one point off the lead when the voting went secret.

Surprisingly, Inglis has never polled strongly in the Dally M award, picking up only 57 votes in the past six years.

At the Storm, playing in the same side as Cronk, Smith and Slater wouldn’t have helped with the points shared among that talented group.

A knee injury he picked up during this year’s State of Origin series forced him to miss games towards the end of the season that may cost him.

Fullbacks have won three of the past four awards – Ben Barba, Slater and Jarryd Hayne in 2009 when the Eels made the grand final under Daniel Anderson.