A heartbroken Johnathan Thurston has spoken publicly for the first time since the shocking death of Paul Green.
Green, 49, was found dead at his home in Brisbane. It has been confirmed that he took his own life.
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News of the death of the former premiership-winning coach of the North Queensland Cowboys caused great grief in the rugby league community.
On Monday night, Thurston spoke about the pain and anger he’s been feeling since losing his former coach and friend.
The two men combined in 2015 to lead the Cowboys to their first premiership.
Thurston was on air, flying to Sydney for commentary with Channel 9 when the shocking news of Green’s death broke.
Thurston was given the weekend off and immediately returned to Townsville.
“The roller coaster of emotions. It’s hard… I’m sad, I’m angry,” Thurston told 9News through tears.
“Thinking about Amanda (Green’s wife) and the kids. It just breaks my heart.
“He was still like the rock to everyone else.
“He was saying, ‘Call me if you need to chat. You have a lot to live for. You have health, family, children.
“So it doesn’t make sense.”
Despite dealing with the pain of losing a great teammate, Thurston is doing his best to remember all the good times he shared with Green.
“He’d put a few on and start singing ‘Ice Ice Baby,'” Thurston said with a laugh.
“(That) was in his favor.
“He loved bringing people together.”
The rugby league community was left heartbroken. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)Source: Getty ImagesGreen and JT celebrate their premiership win. Pic Brett CostelloSource: News Regional Media
Green’s brother Rick spoke about the heavy toll the family was taking since the NRL great’s death.
“As you would expect, there are times when he felt a little overwhelmed by the emotion of the sense of loss,” he said.
“The mother and father are quite advanced in age – the father is over 90 years old, the mother is over 80 – and, obviously, they feel the loss of their son. As brothers and sisters they were feeling this loss, but we are also very aware of the loss of Amanda (Green’s wife) and we are making sure she has that support.
“Everyone has their moments, but we had a great weekend discussing various things, we think we have a path now, so that definitely helped.”
News broke on Sunday of a public memorial that should be well attended judging by the weekend’s emotional scenes.
Speaking about the memorial, Rick said the event would take place at Kougari Oval and invited the public to come and celebrate the league great’s life.