Reuben Cotter’s ready for a trip down aisle, but there’s a job to do first

Cotter is set to go head-to-head with Luciano Leilua, Heilum Luki and Murray Taulagi, with the latter two both expecting their Kangaroos counterpart to not pull any punches.

“Before we went on camp he said ‘make sure you’re playing well because I’m coming after you,’” Luki said.

“He’s a competitor so it’ll be a tough one. He’s not the tallest, so I don’t know if I’ll run straight at him, I might have to put a bit of footwork on.”

Taulagi said he had cut off communication with Cotter in the lead up to the game but he was expecting a good battle.

“I know that he’s going to come and probably try and take my head off, which is something he wouldn’t normally do, but I’m definitely excited for the battle that we’ll have,” Taulagi said.

Asked whether Taulagi had anything to worry about, Cotter replied: “Yeah, my inside shoulder.”

TAULAGI TWIST

It comes as Mal Meninga explained how he had opened the door for Taulagi to play for his country of heritage after putting Josh Addo-Carr ahead in the Australian pecking order.

Cotter said he was initially surprised by the Cowboys winger’s decision but backed his friend’s choice.

“It’s part of his culture so I’ll support that, but it would have been good to see him back in the green and gold, he’s a great player and I love playing with him,” Cotter said.

“Before the camp I had a few words to them and said congratulations and I’ll see you on Saturday.

“They’ve got a really good side so we’re excited for the game.

“We’ve had a look at their team and how we can go about it. We’ll be able to play through the middle and just play our style of footy – obviously we’ve got a pretty competitive team with strike across our team so the game plan will be pretty simple.”

WEDDING BELLS

Following Saturday night’s match against Samoa, Cotter will grab as much beauty sleep as he possibly can before suiting up for his Townsville wedding.

He said he was excited to be able to include Kangaroos teammates Harry Grant, Patty Carrigan and Valentine Holmes among the guests.

But the attendee set to steal the show will be his 16-month-old daughter Sunny.

“She’ll be walking down the aisle with our rings so that’ll be beautiful,” Cotter said.

“That’s exciting in itself as well so I’m looking forward to that, but I’ve got a game to play first and my thoughts and my focus will be on that.”

Cotter originally planned to have his wedding on Saturday, but thankfully for Meninga that date was already taken and the wedding was locked in for Sunday instead.

Following his big day, Cotter said the happy couple would take an abbreviated honeymoon on the Gold Coast.

“We’ve got five days off and we’ll go down to the Gold Coast for a few days and I have a mate’s wedding as well, big Tommy Gilbert, and then I’ll go back into camp with the boys,” he said.

ROOS RELIEF

Cotter enjoyed his best season yet in 2023 after an injury interrupted start to his career, taking home the Wally Lewis Medal as State of Origin player of the series and earning a Kangaroos call-up to top it off.

But the Sarina Crocs junior admitted he was left wondering if he’d done enough to earn national selection after the Cowboys missed out on the NRL finals.

“You always have those thoughts. I’m just happy to be here now and it’s always a privilege to pull on the green and gold jersey, so I’m soaking it up as much as I can,” Cotter said.

“We’ve got a strong football community up in the north in Townsville and they’ve showcased before that the region loves any rugby league that it gets.

“Hopefully we can get another great showing and fill the stadium.”