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BILLY Slater ended a month from hell with a World Cup final straight out of a fairytale - answering his daughter's request with two tries as Australia thrashed New Zealand.
Slater was talking with his daughter at home in Australia on the morning of the final when Tyla Rose asked her dad if he could send a present home for her and little brother Jake.
"I was about to go and she said 'hang on Daddy, can you score one try for me and one try for Jakey'," Slater said in the aftermath after the Kangaroos' thumping 34-2 victory at Old Trafford.
After a horror World Cup that included a nightclub fight and the knee injury that almost ended his tournament, Slater could not have hoped for a more perfect ending.
Billy Slater scores his second try during the RLWC Final. Source: AP
In front of an international rugby league record crowd of 74,468 at the home of Manchester United, the Kangaroos produced a team performance many are hailing as among the greatest ever from an Australian team.
They scored five tries to nil and also maintained their outstanding defensive record that has seen them keep their opponents try less for their past five games.
All over the field there were stars for the Kangaroos.
The unsung heroes were the forwards who totally dominated the bigger Kiwi pack and that allowed the master minds of Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith to orchestrate a famous victory.
Slater and Brett Morris both finished with doubles after Morris nearly did himself serious damage scoring one try when he collided with the fence dangerously positioned behind the deadball line and Jarryd Hayne also had a match to remember after suffering a heavy knock early in the game.
But the man who owned the spotlight was the bloke who had been under so much pressure for most of the tour.
And Slater later conceded even he wasn't sure if he would last the match before he ran out.
The Kangaroos celebrate with the Rugby League World Cup after victory over New Zealand in the Rugby League World Cup Final. Source: Getty Images
"It was probably the most nervous I have been going into a game for a long time," he said.
"Just the uncertainty of how (the knee) was going to hold up.
"I had trained and to be perfectly honest I didn't really convince myself at training. I probably looked okay but it didn't feel great."
But then the first try in the 19th minute when he hunted down a Thurston kick and out-jumped Kieran Foran put the demons to bed.
"I was probably just happy that I could get out there and do that sort of stuff again," he said.
"I couldn't walk a week ago and even a couple of days ago I was uming and arring whether I would put my hand up to play.
"I wasn't lying to you, I was telling the truth when I didn't know if I was playing or not so it was probably just a bit of emotion and to get out there and perform the way we did and be a part of the side we have was very special to me."
Billy Slater celebrates after scoring his second try. Source: AP
As much as Slater's performance was also about redemption for that pass he threw for Benji Marshall that handed the Kiwis the 2008 World Cup, this was also about now and the future _ and settling a debate that has been going on in recent months about just who is the number one fullback in the game.
As Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens said: "A lot of contenders have challenged him.
"A couple of them are playing in the centres for us at the moment with Jarryd Hayne at one stage and GI but Bill is still the premium number one in the game."
But if the gamble to play Slater had backfired, Sheens is also pretty sure it would have been the end of him also.
"On Wednesday we tested Billy and the staff were pretty confident," Sheens explained.
"They had been running him privately up until that point.
"The Wednesday we decided that if Bill was going to play he had to get bashed and I mean bashed.
"We threw them in tackle suits and just about everybody had a shot at him in one way or another through the session including Greg Inglis who I think secretly wanted the fullback role.
"But Billy came through it.
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"The next day there was no swelling on the knee and I was pretty confident.
"He really flew through training on Friday and I think that gave him the confidence and it did me too.
"My career and my medical staffs' careers swung on the balance, I can tell you.
"But he came through it well and his performance was brilliant."
AUSTRALIA 34 (B Morris 2 B Slater 2 C Cronk tries J Thurston 7 goals) NEW ZEALAND 2 (S Johnson goal) at Old Trafford. Referee: Richard Silverwood.
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