Reuben Cotter’s two-year-old daughter Sunny has stolen the show on the morning after Queensland’s heavy Origin II loss to NSW in Melbourne.
Many of the Maroons stars left the team hotel before dawn on Thursday morning, with most in no mood to talk to TV cameras.
But Cotter was an exception. The Maroons prop played 70 minutes on Wednesday night, but like many of his teammates was far from his best.
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“We’re obviously disappointed, but we’ll have a good look at it, have a look at what went wrong and then get on with it,” he said.
Cotter said he had no doubts he and his Maroons teammates could regroup for the decider.
“We haven’t lost confidence … we’ve got to be better.”
It was at this moment it became Sunny’s time to shine. Asked if she was “still proud of daddy”, she gave a cute but confident “yeah”.
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The Maroons will have history on their side at Suncorp Stadium next month. The Blues haven’t won a decider there in nearly 20 years.
In 2005, a Danny Buderus-led Blues lost the series-opener at Suncorp, bounced back in Sydney, and then raced to a 32-0 lead – the same lead they held at half time on Wednesday night – in the decider, before the Maroons scored two late consolation tries.
Game three is on July 17.