Curtis Sironen needs only a few words to describe Manly teammates Jake and Tom Trbojevic when he stops to think how important the brothers are to the Sea Eagles.
“Heart and soul,” Sironen said at a camp for the Brydens Lawyers NSW Blues, Emerging and Future Blues at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence yesterday (Friday 13 December).
“Tom and Jake... when you’re asked to describe them, they’re just the perfect people you want at a club performance-wise and people,” Sironen said.
“Every time we take the field and those two are on the team sheet, I feel like we’ve got a chance no matter what game (and) who’s in or out.”
The Trbojevic brothers were joined by their younger brother Ben for the camp organised by Brydens Lawyers NSW Blues coach Brad Fittler to get a head start on preparations for the 2020 Holden State of Origin series.
Fittler spoke to the group of current and yet-to-be Blues stars about characteristics he looks for when selecting players for the Origin arena, including on-field excellence and being off-field role models.
“It’s not just performance wise, how good you’re playing… they want good people so when I’m tired and cranky just remember there are people out there watching,” Sironen said.
“There’s guys like Jake Trbojevic who I’m around everyday… if I could be half as nice as him I’d probably get a start.”
The Manly second rower earnt a place in the Blues squad alongside 9 other players yet to don the sky blue jumper including Kotoni Staggs, Luke Keary, Victor Radley, Nathan Brown, Clint Gutherson, Ryan Matterson, Mitchell Moses, Luke Brooks and Cameron McInnes.
“One of my best qualities has been perseverance, you know, I’m always getting these sort of injuries and setback, but I set goals and try to get over it,” Sironen said.
“This is a reward for that hard work and just shows that it’s worth it and there’s a lot more thing I want to achieve.”