‘I love his eyes’: Billy Slater’s DCE joke says it all amid Origin war

The footy world was convinced that Billy Slater is finally starting to feel the Origin heat but the Queensland legend has had the last laugh.

If Billy Slater was rattled by Michael Maguire’s comments earlier in the week, he’s hiding it well.

Currently sitting one win away from a third straight State of Origin series win, the Queensland coach was relaxed when speaking to Channel 9’s The Sunday Footy Show.

Watch every game of every round this NRL Telstra Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >

After barbs from his NSW counterpart earlier in the week as well as some awkward clashes on live TV, speculation had been rife that Slater was feeling the pressure, despite sitting in the box seat.

Queensland are known for their “pick and stick” policy, which saw questions asked when the Maroons dropped Selwyn Cobbo for the Game 2 MCG clash and replaced with forward Kurt Capewell.

While news bites out of both camps had been few and far between, despite a big appetite from the public about any information, the sides have largely kept their noses clean.

Billy Slater is a win away from a third straight series win. Photo: Adam Head

Before the Slater interview started, Queensland stars Murray Tualagi and Xavier Coates were given the task of telling the other why they love them.

So love was on the panellists minds when the interview with Slater started.

“There’s plenty of love up here in Queensland, and it’s pretty genuine as you can see there,” Slater smiled.

As they continued the interview with Slater speaking about the preparation and the shots fired by NSW coach Michael Maguire earlier in the week.

But former NSW coach Brad Fittler was stuck back on the opener.

“Can you tell us why you love (Queensland captain) Daly Cherry-Evans?” Fittler asked.

Slater smiled before quipping: “I love his eyes …”, sending the panel into laughter.

Is this the face of a man who's rattled? Photo: Channel 9

As they got themselves back together, Slater continued: “I’m not good at that sort of stuff at the best of times, let alone on national television.

“But the one thing that he’s doing really well is performing his role for the team,” Slater said. “We know what sort of leader Daly is but the greatest attribute of a leader is going out there and performing their roles.

“He’s not asking any of his teammates to do anything that he’s not prepared to do, and even off the field, he’s just such a professional. He’s leading the way in that regard, too.

“We’re very proud of him. We’re really pleased that he’s in our football team, and he’s leading us.”

It comes after the talk in the lead up to Game 2 was all about what happened in Game 1 — namely Joseph Sua’ali’i’s hit on Reece Walsh that saw the debutant sent off.

Queensland are still running with the narrative that it was a targeted ploy to take Walsh out of the game.

But Maguire hit back, saying: “I think you’ve got to make sure you don’t live in glass houses. It (the Sua'ali'i send off) was one of those unfortunate things that happens in games but when you go after a player it’s not acceptable in this space.”

It was a clear sign Maguire was not backing down.

Madge was trying to get under Billy’s skin. Picture: Damian Shaw

And reports that Maguire had got under the skin of Slater weren’t helped by the man himself when he had an awkward exchange with journalist Brent Read on Fox League’s NRL 360.

Asked about the issue on The Sunday Footy Show, Slater brushed it off.

“Look that’s just a part of the preparation and the build up, I suppose,” Slater said.

“To be fair, I’ve tried to keep my head out of the noise not reading too much into anything and just focusing on my job.

“And my job is to, to help the players be at their best on Wednesday night. you know, both individually and collectively as a team and, you know, that’s where all my energy’s been pushed towards.

Asked if he had any grenades to throw back the Blues, Slater joked: “Not on me at the moment.”

Originally published as ‘I love his eyes’: Billy Slater’s DCE joke says it all amid Origin war