IT’S the rugby league feud that just keeps on giving.

Cowboys skipper Johnathan Thurston reportedly has the NRL up in arms after giving the finals launch a miss on Monday to stay in Townsville and get treatment for a groin injury.

But stand-in Gavin Cooper revealed the real reason Thurston didn’t want to travel south of the border was the prospect of coming across 2015 sparring partner Nathan Hindmarsh, who he has traded barbs with all season during Fox Sports coverage.

“He knew Fletch (Bryan Fletcher) and Hindy were going to be here so he didn’t want to put up with Hindy’s crap again,” Cooper joked on The Matty Johns Show.

“He knew someone’s writing all Hindy’s stuff for him so Johnno’s got me down here and I’m going to start writing his stuff for him too.”

True to form, Hindmarsh returned serve immediately.

“They’re (Thurston and Cooper) both probably the biggest dickheads I know ... they’re both Queenslanders,” Hindy quipped.

Watch the latest instalment of rugby league’s favourite feud in the video player above.

This week on the Market Watch podcast Knights veteran Clint Newton and Cowboys prop Ben Hannant join Brett Kimmorley and the boys to talk coaches who are under the pump and the job ahead of Nathan Brown as Newcastle coach in 2016.