Reuben Cotter is facing yet another family dilemma before one of the biggest games of his life, with the Queensland forward discussing his wife’s pregnancy and the impending arrival of their second child before the State of Origin opener. Cotter – who won the Wally Lewis Medal last year as the Origin player of the series – is in camp with the Queensland side ahead of Game I in Sydney on Wednesday night.
Cotter and his wife Mackenzie are expecting the arrival of their second child – a sibling for their daughter Sunny. And the tireless North Queensland Cowboys forward is confident the timing will work out just right, with the newest member of their family expected to arrive in the days after the opening game of the Origin series.
“We hope to be due the back end of next week; maybe the following week,” Cotter said. “So, we were cutting it close again and we timed it perfectly. But family is a big part of why I play the game and it’s a very exciting time again.”
Family-related predicaments are nothing new for Cotter, whose first-born daughter Sunny was born just three days after he made his State of Origin debut in 2022. That was also the same year Billy Slater took over as Queensland coach, with the NRL legend winning his first two series in a row and looking to make it a hat-trick in 2024.
Cotter was also selected to play for Australia in the opening match of the Pacific Championship last year against Samoa, one day before he and Mackenzie got married. The Kangaroos and Maroons workhorse famously joked at the time that he’d asked Samoan players not to mess up his face and ruin his wedding photos for the next day.
“Obviously the wedding is on Sunday, so it will ruin the wedding photos if I’ve got a few black eyes or a couple splits,” Cotter told 9News. “We’ve got photoshop these days too, which helps… “I couldn’t say no. She said ‘you’ve got to play’,” Cotter added about his supportive wife. “It’s pretty special, any opportunity you get to pull on the green and gold is pretty special.”
QLD playing in memory of late Maroons star Carl Webb
Cotter will be donning the Maroons jersey on Wednesday night though and he and the Queenslanders have extra motivation after revealing they’ll be playing in honour of the memory of late fan favourite Carl Webb. A hard-edged, no-nonsense forward in his playing days, Webb – who played 12 Origin Games for Queensland – died last year at the age of 42 after a brave battle with motor neurone disease.
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The Maroons wore an Indigenous jersey co-designed by Webb at training last week that is available to purchase – with all proceeds going to the Carl Webb Foundation, set up to raise awareness and funding for MND. Footage of him throttling NSW prop Luke Bailey with the letter “Q” shaved into his head in 2005 has become an iconic image of Origin folklore and Cotter says the Maroons have been inspired watching clips of the late star before the series decider.
“It’s a very special, important series this year, representing what Carl did for the jersey and for so many Queenslanders,” said Cotter, who, like Webb, is Indigenous. “We’ll all look to bring his aggression and his style of footy on Wednesday night. They made a little highlight reel of what he brings and it gave us all goosebumps and made us feel like we were ready to run through a brick wall, so no doubt we’ll be thinking of him on Wednesday night.”
with AAP