Retiring NRL champion Johnathan Thurston will have his hands full with his growing brood to miss footy when next season rolls around.
His wife Samantha took to Instagram on Wednesday to reveal she’s pregnant with the couple’s fourth child.
The exciting baby news comes days before the North Queensland Cowboys legend hangs up the boots on his 322-game career spanning 16 seasons this Saturday.
Johnathan Thurston (right) and his wife Samantha revealed on Wednesday that they’re expecting their fourth child. They will join Lillie (left), Frankie and Charlie
‘Our little surprise package joining us Feb 2019! #4,’ his wife posted, along with an ultrasound photo.
The newest addition of the family will join daughters Frankie, 5, Charlie, 3, and Lillie, 18 months.
‘So excited for you! It’s like a mad house lol. But loooooove it! Your girls will be soooo excited,’ Brittney Tamou, the wife of Thurston’s former club teammate James Tamou posted.
‘Our little surprise package joining us Feb 2019! #4,’ he and his wife posted on Wednesday
The same ultrasound photo was also posted on her husband’s Instagram page, which has more than 368,300 followers.
Thurston played his final home game in front of a sell-out Townsville crowd last Friday night, when his Cowboys put on a stellar performance against Parramatta.
”Thanks North Queensland members & fans for making my final home game so memorable; I’ll miss you all,’ Thurston posted on Instagram afterwards.
Samantha Thurston, pictured with her husband, met him while working for the North Queensland Cowboys
His final game on the Gold Coast this Saturday is also a sell-out.
Thurston made his NRL for the Canterbury Bulldogs in 2002 before heading north of the border in 2005.
The four-time Dally M Medal winner and two time premiership wining player became the sixth professional rugby league player to reach 2,000 career points in early 2017.
Thurston represented Australian every year from 2006 to 2017 and played 36 consecutive matches for Queensland following his 2005 Origin debut.
Thurston shared a special moment with daughters Frankie and Charlie after his last ever home game in Townsville
Thurston and his wife (pictured last week) will have their hands full with four kids under the age of five early next year
Last week, Ms Thurston revealed she told her future husband in 2007 before they became a couple that he needed to clean up his act.
‘Long term you need a legacy, your character will be your legacy, that’s what people will remember,’ she told The Daily Telegraph.
‘It was always in him, he didn’t do it because I told him to, it was just at times he just needed direction.’
JT played his final home game in front of a sellout crowd in Townsville last week
Their eldest daughter Frankie was two when North Queensland Cowboys won their maiden premiership in 2015