At 35 years young and about to charge onto Suncorp Stadium for his 25th Origin appearance, Daly Cherry-Evans is adamant any thought of retiring from representative footy is far from his mind.
The Maroons captain has been asked many times about his plans for the future but with the 2024 decider just a day away, the focus is solely on delivering his state and his mates a third straight Origin series.
“I don’t make these decisions during the year. I do my best thinking in the off-season, but while I am in the thick of it I am just going to keep enjoying it," Cherry-Evans said.
“I love this job… I love everything that comes with it and I love playing for Queensland.
“Pretty much (I play each Origin game is if it’s my last). I have been doing that for nearly six years now.
"I got dropped and wasn’t playing well enough to keep a spot in this side. I earned my spot back and I have literally played every game like it is my last.
Inside Camp: Daly Cherry-Evans
“I know I am getting old and retirement becomes a bit of a talking point, but I don’t have any special news for you and I am going to just keep enjoying it.
“I promise you, there won’t be an announcement (after this game) … if I'll be sailing off into the sunset, people won’t know until the off-season.
“I won’t want any special treatment for that sort of stuff. I don’t need a fairytale to finish … For as long as I am good enough to hold a spot in this team, it will be very hard to pass up in the future.”
Having experienced the highs and the lows of the Origin arena, Cherry-Evans said the whole team had taken stock of their performance in Game Two, including coach Billy Slater.
“Billy has certainly come with a real determination to make sure that he does what he can to help us prepare well, so he takes his responsibility for the loss," Cherry-Evans said.
“(And) as players, we certainly take our responsibility.
“I really, really love being coached by Billy.
“He's a fantastic person and the way he prepares us is top shelf, to be fair.
“He's obviously really determined to help us get our training right and our minds right for the game on Wednesday.
“He's done a great job. I think he can hold his head high."
Two days out from the game, the 24-game veteran said those preparations had seen the intensity building before the must-win game at a sold out Suncorp Stadium.
DCE nails a 40/20
"The whole week (in camp) we've been working really hard," Cherry-Evans said.
“Throughout the week, you build up, the intensity builds, really narrow the focus and we've done that really well the last eight days.
“Naturally there's always a progression throughout the series I reckon, you start to build combinations throughout the first couple of games and things start to come together really nicely.
“You have to learn from the last game, obviously the way we copped the loss down in Melbourne.
“There’s certainly a few things we had to focus on.
“I think the intensity has been there all series, but certainly a loss certainly sharpens you is the best way to explain it.
“Every camp we've had is with a purpose and each session has a purpose.
“Naturally, when you let in a couple of extra points, you have got to make sure your defence is going to get back on track, so certainly feel like we've done that this camp.
“There's a lot of technical things we tried to work on, but ultimately, our attitude just needs to be a bit more harder."
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