NRL 2016: Sea Eagles break losing streak with big win over Dragons at Brookvale Oval

TOM Trbojevic made a serious case to replace Brett Stewart in the Manly No. 1 jumper as the Sea Eagles smashed a woeful St George Illawarra 36-6.

TOM Trbojevic — the Fresh Prince of Brookvale — is making a serious case to replace Brett Stewart in the Manly No. 1 jumper.

Trbojevic was in the thick of the action on Monday night as the Sea Eagles avoided a club-worst eighth straight defeat to smash a woeful St George Illawarra 36-6.

The 9048 fans were treated to some long-overdue entertaining footy, including a few long-range tries and plenty of offloads.

And they would have left Brookvale Oval wondering how much longer coach Trent Barrett sticks by club legend Stewart ahead of teenage Trbojevic at fullback.

“Brett by his own admission has been struggling with a bit of injury, and I would have played him tonight had he been fully fit,’’ Barrett said afterwards.

“He is a legend of this club, I think when ‘Snake’ is 100 per cent, he can do things on the football field nobody else can.

“I think he deserves for us to show him the respect he has earned.

“I hope ‘Snake’ can overcome a niggling knee injury, and hope he gets through it.

“When he’s not there we’ve got Tom, and Tom is a terrific player of the future. Tom can play many positions, so I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.’’

Stewart was named to start at fullback against the Dragons, but was a late withdrawal because of a knee injury. Barrett was unsure if Stewart be fit for a return against the Warriors.

Trbojevic always posed a threat in attack, fired a bullet-like pass for Jorge Taufua to score the first of his two tries, and looked to be travelling at half-speed when he chased down St George Illawarra flyer Kalifa Faifai Loa late in the game.

The 19-year-old was rewarded for his solid season, along with his brother and Manly forward Jake Trbojevic, by being named as NSW Origin development players.

As for replacing Stewart in his famous jumper before his time at the club expires - be it this season or next - Trbojevic said: “No, I don’t think so. ‘Snake’ is our No. 1, he’s been the Manly No. 1 for ten years, and he’s been one of the best players ever to play in the Manly No. 1 jumper.

“I’m certainly not pushing for his spot.

“When we’re at our best, Snake is playing in the No. 1.’’

Manly players celebrate after a Jorge Taufua try against the Dragons.

While Trbojevic was great, so was Dylan Walker, who responded to his Origin axing by bagging a try-scoring double, including a 95m intercept try from a pass thrown by the man who replaced him in the Blues, Josh Dugan.

Manly dominated possession early. The win leaves Manly anchored in 14th place. They won’t make the finals, but they’ll be fun to watch if they can produce some similar efforts in attack.

The Dragons were terrible, with coach Paul McGregor ‘’embarrassed’’ by the result. What made the defeat more frustrating for McGregor was victory would have allowed the Dragons to leapfrog the Warriors back into the top eight.

“The contest and importance of this game, we needed to have a lot of desire, we lacked a little bit of that tonight,’’ McGregor said.

“I’m more embarrassed by the scoreline more than anything else. We’re a better footy team than that.’’

MANLY 36

(J Taufua 2 D Walker 2 J Buhrer N Green B Wiliame tries J Lyon 4 goals)

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 6

(J Dugan try G Widdop goal) at Brookvale Oval. Referee: Gavin Badger, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 9,048.

Originally published as NRL 2016: Sea Eagles break losing streak with big win over Dragons at Brookvale Oval