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If there is a current Inside Back League player who could make an instant success of Union then I believe Thurston is that man.
He's talented enough to play any position in the Backs but would be dynamite for say the Reds at Flyhalf.
Sign Thurston now: Ella
Will Swanton
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Wallabies legend Mark Ella believes the Australian Rugby Union should entice Kangaroos halfback Johnathan Thurston to fill the void left by George Gregan and Stephen Larkham after the World Cup.
A new era of Wallabies players will be unveiled in 2008 and with league representative Timana Tahu already on his way to rugby, Ella is convinced 24-year-old Thurston - consistently voted by his peers as the best league player in the world - would be the perfect fit for either of the positions about to be vacated by Gregan and Larkham.
"Rugby has always gone for outside backs from league, which is terrific, but we need guys who can come in and run the game," Ella told The Sun-Herald. "I'm a fan of Johnathan Thurston's. A Darren Lockyer is probably past it now, but Thurston can control the ball. He's an organiser and we'll need someone to organise when Larkham goes.
"You could play him at halfback or five-eighth. He's got the kicking game and flair and he's intuitive. He's got everything. He's creative and he's a good leader.
"He's just one of those footy players with the right instincts in attack. He's always prying for openings and taking on the line. I like the way he plays because of that aggression in attack."
Ella nominated the electrifying Melbourne Storm pair of Israel Folau and Greg Inglis as two other league players who would be immediate standouts in rugby.
"These boys know how to put the ball over the line - that's what you need," Ella said. "I guess we pick outside backs to come across because they're away from all the rucks and mauls; areas of the game that probably take more time to get to know.
"It would be harder for an inside back to slot into rugby because the rules get a bit more complicated, the angles you have to run and the alignments change."
Ella lives on the Central Coast and follows the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. His just-released biography, Ella, reveals how close he came to joining St George in 1985 when the Dragons more than tripled an original offer of $100,000 for an 18-month stint. He would have become league's highest-paid player.
"I was only joking at the start about crossing over but it became really serious," Ella said. "I'd never really wanted to go across to league and I was only being smart when I got the offer and said, 'You've gotta do better than that'. I thought they'd think, 'What an arrogant bastard, we're not going to go after him'. But the offers just kept on coming and the money ended up being so good, I thought a lot about it."
Aside from former Test captain Andrew Johns, Ella put two other league players - dual international Michael O'Connor and Queensland hero Wally Lewis - on his list of the greatest players from either code.
"Glen and Gary [Ella] were fabulous, David Campese was unbelievable, Michael O'Connor was a freak, Michael Hawker at inside centre was an unbelievable player, Wally Lewis when I played with him at schoolboys, was another freak. There have been so many natural ball-runners, players with enormous ability."