The shoulders that carry the Cowboys' hopes are falling apart, write Jacquelin Magnay and Greg Prichard.

THE NRL's marquee player, Johnathan Thurston, has to undergo two shoulder operations that will sideline him for at least six months - and that is the best case scenario if he survives the rest of the finals series unscathed.

Thurston yesterday revealed the extent of damage to both of his shoulders, which have prevented him from extending his arms at full stretch and have involved adopting a modified tackling technique throughout the past month. The Cowboys playmaker told the Herald he had been playing only with the assistance of cortisone injections and that "it possibly could get worse" with any tackle that went wrong.

He said: "I can't lift anything, it is very sore after a game, it wakes me up a couple times at night … if it cops a whack, well, it could get worse."

Thurston, 24, said he faces a minimum of six months rehabilitation from the two reconstructions.

The shoulder with the worst damage will undergo surgery first, followed by a second operation scheduled at least a month later.

Thurston's woes - which have been hinted at by Cowboys coach Graham Murray and previously described as "niggling" - have made life complicated. Thurston said he was very keen to play for Australia against New Zealand in the October 14 Test, an option that would delay surgery by a fortnight.

For the past month, Thurston and Cowboys officials have kept the injuries quiet in the hope of protecting them, but the club was forced to talk publicly about his shoulder problems at the judiciary hearing on Wednesday night.

Cowboys officials want Thurston to have surgery as soon as the Cowboys finish their finals campaign to eliminate the prospect of further damage to the shoulders and begin the rehabilitation process as quickly as possible.

"That is something I have to talk about with the club and the medical staff. If I play in the Test I will possibly miss the first couple of rounds of next season," Thurston said.

It is highly likely Thurston will forgo the honour of playing Dally Messenger's role in the All Golds game later in October as part of the code's 100 year celebrations. Andrew Johns and Darren Lockyer have also had to withdraw from playing Messenger.

Leading orthopaedic surgeon Mark Perko yesterday said the tears Thurston has in both shoulders would have been the results of partial dislocations, leaving the shoulders unstable because their restraints had been damaged.

Perko, who has operated on leading sports figures and treats Manly and Parramatta players for shoulder injuries, said that while the North Queensland training and medical staff would be taking all preventative measures with Thurston, the player was at risk of worsening his injuries during matches.

"The risks are that he may try to make a tackle with his arm outstretched, or he could fall with his arm outstretched, or, even worse, he could fall with his arm outstretched and someone could fall on top of him," Dr Perko said. "There could be the risk of a shoulder dislocation with any of those scenarios.

"If he suffered a fairly major dislocation at this late stage then you could expect it to end the season for him, because they couldn't realistically hope to get him back on the field in a week."

The last time Thurston showed obvious shoulder discomfort was during North Queensland's 54-10 loss to Wests Tigers on July 30. Thurston reeled out of a collision grabbing at his shoulder and was largely ineffective for the rest of the game.

"He probably had a subluxation [dislocation] episode and when that happens you get the dead arm syndrome. The shoulder is sore and the arm just feels dead and hangs there," Perko said.

"The club would be resting him a lot between games. He would be doing a lot of rehab and avoiding any loading on the shoulder. He would be doing a lower-range weights program and not doing anything that involved lifting his arms above his shoulders. Simple shoulder taping is sometimes good enough for games, or you can use a brace, which restricts the movement of the arm …

The best thing he can do is avoid getting tackled and he is in a good position to do that, because his job involves offloading the ball a lot."