Barrett's City opposite Brad Fittler is not as certain - at least not in his comments publicly - how much is on the line for a number of Blues hopefuls at McDonald's Park, but Daley's game one jigsaw will be a little clearer when he heads back up the Hume Highway from the Riverina.

The Blues coach watched intently as both City and Country went through their final paces on Saturday having grappled with a number of injuries to selections locks, the stuttering form from others and the realisation Jarryd Hayne won't be in the No.1 this year.

Asked how many positions the NSW hopefuls can press their claims for in the City and Country clash, Barrett said: "I think there would be a lot, probably five or six. Injuries can have a fair bearing on who [Daley] picks and there's three games.

"Whoever is picked in game one won't necessarily be there in game three, which is why it's really important for them because if they don't make the first one they're still a chance."

Fittler was a little more guarded on the selection quandary for Daley and the NSW selectors as he put the final touches on moulding his baby-faced City side, some with their training wheels still on at NRL level, into wresting recent dominance away from Country in the fixture.

"The hardest thing I think is when you have innuendo like that," he said. "They play in a team and if you go out thinking about yourself things don't turn out and are normally worse than you like them to be. The important thing is they go out together and work hard together.

"I'm not sure how settled Laurie is on his team. After being back from America he's come back into a bit of a storm - to say the least - but hopefully these guys can make his job easier.

"And from my point of view nothing excites me more than getting all these young blokes together and seeing how they work and try to get an idea of what camps are like and what we expect from them."

Predictably, most of the pre-match focus has been on the five-eighth shootout between NSW incumbent Josh Reynolds and Country captain James Maloney as Trent Hodkinson and Mitchell Pearce cool their heels over the weekend.

Barrett has issued a simple edict to Maloney to worry about his kicking game and defence after the Roosters pivot stated that he expects Daley to show loyalty to the Bulldogs halves who helped end NSW's Origin drought last year.

"There's obviously a lot of talk and a lot of opinions thrown around," Maloney said. "I did think if I was in their shoes I'd earn the right to get first crack, but whether that's the way they go or not is not my decision.

"I'd love to get back in the arena and all I can do is I can concentrate on playing good footy and if the chance arises they've got the confidence to put me in and do the job.

"[Barrett] was in Origin camp when I was there [in 2013] and I found him really helpful so we've had a couple of chats about keeping things simple. If there's a big play there to be made, that happens off the back of doing the little things well."

It's a similar message Fittler will deliver to Reynolds, who will be told to be "aggressive" in his attitude and communicate well in defence.

Which might not be easy as it sounds in front of what is expected to be a parochial Country crowd, hoping to watch their side lift the shield for the fifth time in the last six years.

"We see it as our home ground and our crowd and they know that and they should play accordingly," Barrett said.

The match will begin at the earlier than advertised time of 1.45pm due to the rescheduled Anzac Test in Brisbane.

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