He may not be the flashiest player, nor the most famous player in the team, but every team needs a player like Ricky Thorby – a solid, honest toiler, who does the hard work necessary, with the 26-year old prop keen to remain at the Cowboys, beyond this season.
Thorby sees his tenure at the Cowboys, as one handed down to him by the Gods – with negotiations for Thorby to stay at the club, progressing quite well.
“The club know what my intentions are and hopefully it’s not too long until I re-sign and can stay here,” the New Zealander said.
“The players are happy with me, the coaching staff are happy with me and I’m happy with myself.”
Initially a rugby union star, he was only introduced to league when the union team he was about to play for, folded – before a letter from a New Zealand rugby league competition, gave him the start he needed, to progress to where he is now.
“Everything has been by sheer luck, a lot of the times I’ve been in the right place at the right time,” Thorby said.
“When I got the letter I thought ‘I’ll focus on that’, because obviously I couldn’t play if I went away and did my three-month basic induction in the Army, so I went away and tried out for that and was successful. Now I’m playing NRL.”
Peter Parr, the Cowboys Football Manager, met with Thorby’s agent David Riolo – with the club confident they can work something out with Thorby.
“We had a good discussion, I thought it was positive … I’m confident we’ll be able to work something out,” Parr said.
Proving himself as a handy forward off of the bench, to relieve the likes of James Tamou and Matt Scott of minutes, Thorby is serving as the club’s impact player off the bench.
“He’s produced what we thought he would be capable of,” Parr said.
“To his credit, he had a really good off-season, he put his head down and now he’s reaping the benefits. He’s played some really decent football and he’s popular among the players so he’s someone we’d like to have continue with us.”
For Thorby, every game is the chance to prove his worth, as he strives to get better each game.
“Every game I pretty much play to prove myself,” he said.
“I like to try and play as hard as I can whether I have a six-year contract or a six-month contract.”