RUGBY LEAGUE superstar Johnathan Thurston has found himself in the thick of a car crash drama in Darwin on the eve of the North Queensland Cowboys’ NRL clash with the Parramatta Eels.

Cowboys’ star Thurston was given the shock of his life when a Darwin taxi ploughed into the back of a parked car as the Queensland hero emerged from his hotel on Friday afternoon.

media_camera Parramatta Eels co-captain Tim Mannah and North Queensland Cowboys’ star Johnathan Thurston meet a Territory local, a 1.5 meter saltwater croc, ahead of their NRL match on Saturday night in Darwin. Picture: Justin Kennedy

Thurston was first on the scene as he rushed to see if he could be of help to the shocked taxi driver.

Thurston asked the driver, who was still sitting dazed in his cab after ploughing into the small four-door silver sedan, if he was OK.

Recognising the league legend immediately, the surprised driver replied: “Don’t worry about me JT, you go get ‘em!”

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Thurston was quickly joined by the owner of the silver sedan who had been walking towards her car to get in when the taxi destroyed her car.

After making sure the cab driver was alright Thurston crossed the road to wrestle with a 1.5 metre Darwin crocodile … seriously.

He and Eels co-captain Tim Mannah got up close with the saltie from the local crocodile farm tourist park, Crocodylus.

Crocodylus is the home from which Queensland’s largest captive crocodile 5.48 metre Cassius in Cairns came from.