Thurston had been nagged by injury troubles all through 2017. In round 6 of the 2017 NRL season, he suffered a calf injury during the Cowboys' 16–26 loss to the Tigers. He recovered from that injury in-time to play in the 2017 ANZAC Test for Australia. During the Test match, he picked up a shoulder injury which kept him out of action for 8 weeks. He failed to recover in-time for State of Origin game 1; but he returned from injury in round 14, in the Cowboys 32–6 win over the Eels.