"It was just like, 'wow'," Dailhou said. "Tom had a football brain from a young age ... he just understood the game." Tonight Tom and Jake will play alongside each other for the Blues in State of Origin II. It will be the first Origin game played in Perth, with a 60,000-strong crowd expected, and is a must-win game for NSW after their 18-14 loss to Queensland in Brisbane in game one. It is the fourth time the two brothers, who both play for Manly, have represented NSW together. And their two PE teachers know more than most just how "deserving" the brothers are of their accolades. Both teachers have worked at Pittwater High for more than 20 years and have seen four Trbojevic brothers come through the ranks, starting with eldest brother, Jake.

Child star: Tom Trbojevic as a youngster in Mona Vale. Credit:Instagram "Jake was a very sensitive kid," Askew said."When he was in year 7, I was in the staff room - it was early in the year, so I didn't know who he was. He knocked on the door and said, 'I'd just like to tell you there's a boy outside who's upset and needs some help.' "For a year 7 boy, a big sporty kid, to see someone who is crying and go out of his way to seek some help, just goes to show the calibre of who Jake is - he was always an understanding kid." Jake plunged into the world of schoolboy rugby league the moment he started at Pittwater High School in 2007, making "every representative team" there was. "Jake had a stellar junior career," Dailhou said. "I'll never forget, I remember one rep game he was suspended for a high tackle or something and he was too embarrassed to tell us about it.

"He was such a good kid. He was embarrassed because he knew he wasn't that type of player - he thought we would be disappointed in him." Rugby league in the Trbojevic family has long been a family affair. Mother Melissa Trbojevic was "always there", driving the boys of Pittwater around to various matches and father John is the president of local club the Mona Vale Raiders. Mark Dailhou, a PE teacher, recognised the talent of the Trbojevic brothers when they were young players at Pittwater High. Credit:Nick Moir "Being a public school we didn’t have our own bus, so we relied on parents like Melissa," Dailhou said. The teachers also coached Jake and Tom's second youngest brother Luke, who Dailhou is still convinced "could have made NRL level" before he took up boxing.

"It's just been a really nice relationship for the school," Dailhou said. While Tom was always destined for great things in rugby league, Dailhou says he could have been a representative player in "seven different sports". "He won a number of state titles in beach sprints for Mona Vale surf club, and he was an unbelievable touch [football] player," he said. "When he played touch ... it was like he had spiders on his back. The defence didn't know what he was going to do, they just hung off him." Tom also excelled at rugby union during high school as well as Aussie Rules, spending two years with the Sydney Swans Academy.

Loading The Blues fullback was also said to be "so much above all the others" at school in volleyball. The coaches recall a time when they organised a one-on-one basketball match between the school's star basketballer and Tom. "The kid was on the state team, and he was super tall," Askew said. "But Tom cleaned him up." It wasn't just their sporting prowess. The Origin boys are remembered at the school for academic performance too.