Laurie Daley revealed Terrell May was overlooked for Origin I because “others are playing better than him”, Tom Trbojevic needed to rediscover his confidence for Manly, while he was confident NSW would get the best out of Latrell Mitchell.
Blues players started assembling in camp at Sydney Olympic Park on a cool Monday morning, except Payne Haas, who was still in Brisbane awaiting scan results on a quad injury.
Melbourne Storm prop Stefano Utoikamanu will come into the 17 should Haas be ruled out.
Returning to the Blues’ top job for the first time since 2017, Daley explained why Wests Tigers’ prop May, and Sea Eagles’ superstar Trbojevic, were left out of the opening game at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday week.
“I just think the others are playing better than Terrell May,” Daley said. “[As for Trbojevic] everyone agrees Tom, if he’s fit, is one of the best players in the game. It was a tough decision.
“Tom needs to go back and play some good football and be confident. I’ve got no doubt Tommy will be back in this arena at some point.
“It’s always a tough decision, but the guys we’ve got will play well.
“Tom is a wonderful player, but we just felt going into Queensland, for game one, Latrell and ‘Critta’ [Stephen Crichton] have been outstanding, and the two wingers [Brian To’o and Zac Lomax], although they’ve only had one game back [from injury], we felt at this particular point, that was the best option to go with.”
South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett said on more than one occasion Queenslanders would go to bed happy if Mitchell was not playing for NSW. Mitchell was unstoppable in game two last year, missed game three because of a foot injury, and missed the two previous series because of a hamstring and calf complaint.
“When I spoke to Latrell last night, he just gave me confidence because the sound in his voice, he was very upbeat, and I’m sure he’ll be in for a big game,” Daley said.
“We all know what he’s capable of doing. Obviously, we’re looking for Latrell to be Latrell, and in this environment he will be.
“We all know what an outstanding footy player he is. I’m just excited to be back working with him, I worked with him as number of years in the Indigenous side.
“He’s a good fella, and we’ll get the best out of him.”
In other selection news, a relaxed Daley confirmed:
- A desperation play to get back in the line of defence during Magic Round went a long way to Canterbury’s Max King getting the nod to make his NSW debut;
- Mitchell Moses’ kicking game could not be ignored when it came to deciding between him and Jarome Luai for the No. 6 jersey; Daley said, “you can have a poor set, but you can get away with it if your kick is strong”;
- Nathan Cleary would be given permission to roam, including playing on the left side of the field and switching Moses to the right, as reported by this masthead on Sunday;
- And Stephen Crichton had been playing with a groin injury for a few weeks, would be monitored at training, but is all but certain to play.
Daley said they would need to improve again if they were to win successive games at Suncorp Stadium, something which had not been done since 1997 and 1998.
When asked if he hated Queensland, Daley smiled and said: “Hate is a strong word. I respect Queensland. I think they’re well coached, they have a great team, whoever they’ve selected will go out there and be ready. We need to be better than what we were last year. And we will be.”
