Adiana Talakai’s dad Petani was always her biggest supporter, but there was a time when she didn’t want him at her games. Specifically, the day Talakai made her debut for the Australian women’s rugby side, the Wallaroos, in a Test match in 2022. For reasons she now struggles to explain, the NSW hooker decided she wouldn’t tell her father - and her whole family - that she’d been picked to play for the Wallaroos against Fiji in Brisbane. It’s just a camp, she fibbed. “I was scared that I was going to waste their time,” Talakai said. “I value what my parents have put into me. So I didn’t want to waste any more time and sacrifice that they have to. I didn’t want to disappoint them. “And yes, it was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.”