Johnathan Thurston

Regular fullback Lachlan Coote missed the match against Wests Tigers with a calf injury of his own and hooker Jake Granville is out for up to six weeks with a broken leg. Utility Ben Hampton deputised at hooker on Saturday night, but may now be needed in the halves.

Now Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston can etch their names into the history books as they close in on the magical mark of 2,000 points in the NRL.

Only four players – Hazem El Masri (2,418 points), Andrew Johns (2,176), Jason Taylor (2,107) and Daryl Halligan (2,034) – have achieved the feat, and it would be fitting if these two modern-day superstars joined the illustrious list.

Thurston has been a mainstay in the Queensland side, playing all 36 matches since making his debut in 2005 in an incredible display of durability.

Man of the match Thurston turned the game early in the second half, scoring a key try before laying on an inch-perfect kick for Dane Gagai to seal the result on Friday night in front of 20,241 fans at McDonald Jones Stadium.

After Mel Meninga's World team scored two tries in the shadows of half-time to make a game of it at 16-8, the Indigenous side found another gear.

First, Parramatta speedster Bevan French, who looks set to build on his standout rookie year, put in a curling chip off the side of his boot which bounced up for Thurston.

At 31 years of age Scott has already spoken about the need to make his next contract one that best serves his family which is professional athlete code for the need to cash in before the body can finally take no more.

At the conclusion of his first week back at training with the North Queensland Cowboys Thurston spoke to the media on Friday and confirmed that he would step down from representative football after the 2017 Rugby League World Cup but is yet to ink an extension to stay with the Cowboys for what would be a 14th season with the club in 2018.

Extra padding has been put in place behind the in-goals and advertisements have been removed for extra space.

In previous years, Kangaroos Luke Lewis and Brett Morris were injured in separate incidents at the 2013 World Cup after crashing into the fence.

Australian fullback Darius Boyd has his concerns but has been ensured he will be safe.

"Mal's been pretty good with preparing us," Boyd said.

The former Queensland mentor has opted to rest star halfback Cronk for the up and coming Four Nations clash with New Zealand for player welfare reasons.

Meninga said he wanted to spread each player's game time evenly.

"It's not about being disrespectful," Meninga said.

"We've got 24 great players who all deserve to play. It's about resting Coop. He's had a big year, played every game, played the grand final.

"It's more about respecting the players I have internally here. I've got 24 great players so we want to respect that more so than what do externally."

Thurston was collared early in a high tackle by Kiwis enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves in Australia's 26-6 in Perth on Saturday.

The Australian five-eighth was smashed soon after in a borderline tackle by Martin Taupau.

The Maroons conducted an extensive opposed session on the Gold Coast on Sunday morning and while Cronk's absence as he attempts to recover from an ankle injury was expected, not having Manly half Daly Cherry-Evans on standby was something of a surprise.

Cherry-Evans returned to his Manly home as Queensland finalise their preparations for Game One of the 2016 Holden State of Origin Series hopeful that Cronk will play but by no means certain.