Thurston stars in spine-tingling new NRL ad

Johnathan Thurston's grand final heroics take centre stage in the NRL's new ad campaign that will have fans begging for the season to begin.

In recent years we've seen pop stars and celebrities feature in the annual pre-season advertisement, but in 2016 it's all about the game's heroes.

The spin-tingling clip features fan footage during the 2015 decider in which Thurston leads the North Queensland Cowboys to their maiden premiership.

The ad focuses on the crowd's incredible reaction to two key moments - JT's potential match-winning conversion that hit the post, and his dramatic field goal in golden point extra time.

"Rather than investing in a big artist or band we have adopted a 'fan first' strategy to the campaign," the NRL's marketing chief Tristan Hay said.

"It's all designed to encourage fans to experience our matches live."