“In that type of role, you’ve got to be selfless, and he filled it really well. I love Jake, I love him as a player, but again you’ve got to assess all of them on how they’re going and throw everything into the mix; captain, what he’s done in the past, what’s he like in the group, how he was sort of the glue last year.
“All those things will play a part in everyone’s selection, not just Jake. But I love Jake as a player.”
Told that if he missed selection, the selfless Trbojevic would only want what is best for the team, Daley replied: “Yeah, you want blokes like that, but you also want them to be dirty.
“You also want them to be ‘I want to be a part of this team’, and that drives their performance.
“And it’s also one that, when you ring some players and tell them that they are not in, you want to be able to sort of say to them, well, you just missed out because someone is playing better than you, rather than, ‘Oh mate, you’ve gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta do that to get yourself up to a level.’
“It’s just one of those conversations that you don’t like having, but it’s a great conversation to have because basically they deserve to be in there, but you’re just gonna have to say, ‘Mate, unfortunately you have missed out, but don’t give up.’
Jake Trbojevic during the 2024 Origin series.Credit: Getty Images
“Very rarely do you take the same 17 into three games. You just have to be ready to go.
“As much as that sounds corny, you just have to go with those you think will get the job done for game one.”
Should Trbojevic be overlooked, Cleary and Isaah Yeo – the skippers at their club side Penrith – are the favourites to take over the captaincy.
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There is also intrigue over the composition with the halves, with Daley open to the prospect of pairing halfbacks Cleary and Moses together.
“That wouldn’t worry me at all, I think that those two would combine well,” he said.
“If that happened, one would certainly be in control of the team, but Luai has played some really good football with both those players, and is playing well at the Tigers, albeit in a different role.
“That’s the choice you want. All of them deserve a chance and we’ll just see what happens over the next couple of weeks, but that’s certainly an option.”
Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
