The NSW star Mundine is happy to call ‘the Man’, PM pops into Blues dinner

Anthony Mundine had plenty of run-ins with Laurie Daley during their playing days. Who can forget Mundine talking about Daley “running on old legs”? Or when he asked why Daley did not do more to embrace his Indigenous heritage?

But Mundine made a point of catching up with Daley in Melbourne on Tuesday night, and said he was desperate to see Daley succeed against Queensland and silence the knockers.

“He’s a good man, brother,” Mundine said. “It was good to catch up with him. We had a lot of history – he was a nemesis back in the day – but to see what he’s doing now, he’s got an opportunity to close it out.

“The people talking s**t about him, if you ain’t been there and done it, you’ve got no right to say anything. Loz is a legend.”

Mundine was famously known as ‘The Man’, but was happy to bestow that title, momentarily, on NSW halfback Nathan Cleary.

“The man who can get them home on Wednesday night is the general, and that’s Nathan Cleary,” Mundine said.

“I told him, ‘bruh, you’re the man, this is your time, and you need to lead with everything, lead with your energy, your talk, and your actions’. He said, ‘thanks man, I appreciate that’.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a surprise cameo at the NSW team dinner on Tuesday night, and sat down with coach Laurie Daley to talk about the Blues’ Origin chances.

‘Albo’ is a passionate South Sydney fan (who can ever forget him casually strolling across Allianz Stadium when Alex Johnston broke the try-scoring record earlier this year), and he was eager to check in on the Blues while in town at the plush Pullman Hotel.

There was plenty of emotion during the pre-game jersey presentations, including when Dylan Lucas, Mark Nawaqanitawase and Jack Bostock received their first jerseys.

James Tedesco received a medal for reaching 25 games for NSW, while Storm coach Craig Bellamy also appeared to hand out the playing tops to the non debutants.

Casey McLean, who was ruled out with quad injury on Saturday, also returned to Melbourne to be with the team.

Tom Trbojevic returns from a hamstring injury in what is a boost for Manly – and potentially NSW heading into game three.

The man dubbed ‘Turbo’, however, hoped the Blues could seal the series in Melbourne, and he was not even needed.

“I love NSW and I love Origin, but I haven’t given it much thought – I actually hope they can win the series in Melbourne so there’s no need to make changes then,” Trbojevic said.

“Tolu has been unbelievable for us, and I’m sure he’ll do another outstanding job. Tolu and Haumole [Olakau’atu] have taken a lot of confidence ou