'Thought it was going to be a no': The 'cold call' that convinced Craig Bellamy to join Laurie Daley's NSW coaching staff

It was the cold call that solidified Laurie Daley's first win in his second tenure as NSW coach before a ball had been kicked.

Daley was officially unveiled as the Blues' next Origin coach on Monday on a two-year deal, but the addition of Storm mentor Craig Bellamy was by far the most curious aspect of the unveiling.

As recently as September, Bellamy refused the NSW job, with the idea of coaching against his own club players a difficult proposition for the multiple-time premiership-winning coach having wrestled with that during a difficult stint at the helm of the Blues across three series from 2008-2010.

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So, when Daley reached out to his former Canberra teammate before applying for the Blues job, he thought it was a long shot.

"I rang him out of the blue - just cold called him," Daley told Nine's Today.

"I've known Craig for a long period of time, we were former teammates at Canberra. I've admired his coaching; one of the great coaches of the modern era in fact he's arguably one of the best coaches of all time.

"And when he said, 'Can I think about it?' I got off the phone and I told my wife.

"I thought that was going to be a no straight away but he said he's going to think about it. So I said we're a chance."

Daley said he gave the legendary coach his space.

"And then I waited for another week and a half, two weeks, and I rang him back and said, 'What do you think?'

"He said, 'I'm excited and would love to be a part of it.' So that's when discussions started to get a little deeper and we've got a role for him. He'll be mentoring the coaches.

"We'll be running everything by him and he'll give us feedback on how we can be better. No one has created a better high performance culture and a footy team like Craig and I'm hoping to bring that culture to the NSW team."

Daley becomes just the second person to return to the NSW role after Phil Gould, having previously led the Blues between 2013 and 2017.

Daley will share the coach's box with Bellamy at the Storm for certain matches before Origin series, while Bellamy will spend time in camp.

The former Blues five-eighth said he will lean on Bellamy to strategise against Queensland players and will also play a hand in picking the team.

Daley spent time in camp under Maguire last season and said he holds no concerns over not having coached for seven years, having long held roles in the media and on talkback radio.

"I reckon I'll be a lot more wiser and better prepared. I know the challenges that I face and I'm ready to confront them head on," he said.

"I'm hoping to build on what Michael Maguire created.

"You learn a lot through mistakes that you may have made. There's things you'd like to do differently. One of those things is looking at yourself. As a coach you always analyse what you did.

"Knowing where you went wrong last time. While I haven't been coaching I watch the game intently. I still take notes and watch video. I'd like to think I'm up to date with the trends of the game.

"I'm looking forward to working with the players. They proved this year they're a tight knit bunch to win a decider in Queensland."