North Queensland star Johnathan Thurston says it's "open slather" on the NRL's playmakers after the league failed to punish Newcastle enforcers Jeremy Smith and Beau Scott.
Thurston was left with a swollen left eye and several other bumps and bruises after being targeted by Smith and Scott during the Cowboys' loss to the Knights in Townsville last weekend.
Scott is free to play Gold Coast this Sunday after taking an early guilty plea on a grade one dangerous contact to the head/neck charge for a lifting tackle on the Cowboys five-eighth.
Kiwi international Smith wasn't even placed on report for dropping a knee into Thurston earlier in the match, the moment when his eye was blackened.
Thurston said the lack of a response by the NRL will only encourage similar defensive targeting of key players in future games.
"I suppose it's game on now," Thurston told reporters.
"You can do that and get away with it. A lot of teams will bring that into their gameplans now and I think it's open slather.
"They (NRL) didn't do anything about it so we'll have to wait and see how we come up in the next few rounds."
Newcastle coach Rick Stone has denied his tactics were to deliberately target Thurston while NRL match review coordinator Michael Buettner says he's satisfied with Scott's sanction despite conceding the Queensland State of Origin star was put at "an unacceptable risk of injury".
Thurston, who celebrated the arrival of his second child with fiancee Samantha Lynch earlier in the week, said regardless of what others say he's expecting Brisbane to employ similar tactics against him when the two Queensland teams clash this Friday.
"They probably would've seen a blueprint in the way to beat us last weekend," he said.
"No doubt they'll send a lot of traffic my way, that'll keep happening. Just need to be smarter there.
"Pick and choose my times when I'm running the ball, where I stand in the defensive line as well.
"I'm normally pretty good at hiding, I think I need to get that back in my game."
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