Video: Injured Sea Eagles star Tom Trbojevic’s Manly Corso sprint

Meet the footy fan who raced Tom Trbojevic down the Manly Corso — and what he thinks about the Sea Eagles star’s injury woes. WATCH THE VIDEO

The punter who claims he beat Tom Trbojevic in a late night race down the Manly Corso would not weigh in to how the fullback injured his hamstring.

Harry, a West Tigers fan, said he first went over to the NSW and Australian rep and asked for a photo before seeing if they could have a foot race.

He told 2GB’s Ben Fordham he won the race and Trbojevic did not pull up sore.

“I don’t think (he injured his hamstring in the race), he was fine when he was walking off but I’m not the one to say whether he did it in the race or in the bathroom,” he said.

“Sorry that he had to lose the race first of all. I hope he gets better. I honestly hope he gets better but it takes two to tango.”

On Monday, Manly chief executive Stephen Humphreys was forced to deny superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic sustained another “devastating” hamstring injury during a 70-metre sprint race up The Corso after a night out with teammates.

WATCH THE VIDEO IN THE PLAYER ABOVE

Sea Eagles fullback Tom Trbojevic

Trbojevic claimed on Monday he was “embarrassed” after injuring his hamstring from a fall in his northern beaches bathroom.

The Daily Telegraph — who secured vision of the race between Trbojevic and a man named Harry — showed the video to Humphreys and Manly coach Des Hasler.

Hasler and Humphreys told Trboejvic about the footage but Manly’ champion fullback rejected the injury occurred in the race, which Harry won.

The man videoing the race can he beard excitedly yelling: “Holy s..t, Harry’s faster than Turbo.”

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A Manly media release said the injury occurred as the “result of an innocuous accident.”

Scans revealed a grade two tear to Trbojevic’s right hamstring, forcing him out until at least round four, possibly round five.

Strongly denying any cover-up, Humphreys said: “Tom gave us a full explanation of how the injury occurred including the events of the prior day and evening.

“He was very open and adamant about what had happened. I understand the inferences some may make but it is just a really unfortunate accident.”

WATCH THE VIDEO IN THE PLAYER ABOVE

Tom Trbojevic of the Sea Eagles will miss the first month.

Manly players, including Trbojevic, were spotted at three different drinking establishments – The Steyne, Wharf bar and Hugos – during a night on Saturday.

Trboejvic told the Sydney media on Monday he had fallen in the bathroom on Sunday morning. He immediately rang Manly’s High Performance Unit and Hasler.

“It’s actually pretty embarrassing to say,” Trbojevic said.

“I woke up yesterday and slipped over in the bathroom. I felt it go. It’s pretty hard to take. I don’t know what else to say.

“I just slipped over, that’s literally what it was. Like I said, it’s pretty embarrassing. I do apologise to the Manly club as an organization and to all the members that I won’t be out there playing footy early this year.

“It didn’t feel great (when I slipped). Obviously I have felt that feeling before so I kind of knew pretty quickly. I’m devastated by what has happened.

“It’s obviously not ideal. I have been working very hard this off-season so to find out I will miss footy is pretty disappointing.”

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FULL NRL CASUALTY WARD

Tom Trbojevic has copped a sucession of injuries.

While this was damage to his right hamstring, Trbojevic’s previous injuries have been to his left hamstring.

“A fresh injury often can be better. I’ll take a positive out of that, although it’s hard to find one,” he said. “It’s not something you want to be dealing with especially with the (hamstring) history over the past couple of years.

“But at least I have been here before and know what I have to do to get right again. I will do everything to get it right. This club has shown a lot of faith in me and I haven’t been able to stay on the field long enough to repay that. That’s something I have to live with.”

Manly coach Des Hasler was shattered for his fullback.

“We have to be philosophical about these things,” Hasler said.

“We’re pleased he only has two hamstrings – not three. We have contingency plans in place. If it’s going to happen, it’s best now.

Asked was Trbojevic’s future in doubt, Hasler said: “No, never. It’s a soft tissue injury.”

Some Manly players started stealing food from the plates of patrons at The Wharf Bar before Trbojevic stepped in and told teammates to behave.

New recruit Jason Sabb, Morgan Harper and Reuben Garrick would be frontrunners for the vacant fullback spot.

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KFC SUPERCOACH ANALYSIS

- Tom Sangster

The fullback position has been thrown wide open following the injury to Tom Trbojevic.

Coming into the day, Tommy Turbo was the most popular gun fullback and 10th most popular player overall.

But now almost 35 per cent of KFC SuperCoaches are on the hunt for a replacement.

A few things will happen:

* James Tedesco will surge through the ownership rankings from 20th. However, his massive $843,100 price tag — highest in the game by almost $100,000 — will require KFC SuperCoaches to totally reconfigure teams elsewhere, probably dropping two other guns. Tedesco scored the most points of any KFC SuperCoach player last year despite missing three games — that’s how good he is and that’s why he’s worth the premium.

James Tedesco will surge in popularity.

* Likewise, Ryan Papenhuyzen will surge from 22nd most popular into the top 10, especially if he wins the goalkicking duties off Cameron Smith, who is no chance of being at the Storm this season. Paps got off to a slow start in 2020, struggling to gel with Cam Munster. But things started to click from round seven onwards and in 11 games from that point Papenhuyzen averaged 84, exceeding 100 points five times. He’s not quite Teddy class yet, but Papenhuyzen’s not far away and he is $200K cheaper.

Ryan Papenhuyzen is red-hot for KFC SuperCoach following Tom Trbojevic’s injury.

* KFC SuperCoaches will now ponder the option of running just one gun fullback with a dual position cheapie in the second slot, such as Charlie Staines (most popular player) or Tesi Niu (fourth most popular). With huge price gains predicted for both these young guns over the opening rounds, KFC SuperCoaches then have an easy upgrade to proven KFC SuperCoach studs Trbojevic or Kalyn Ponga (shoulder), who are both set to return from injury in round four.

* Then there’s the POD route, with AJ Brimson leading the way.

NRL PHYSIO’S ANALYSIS:

- Brien Seeney

Tom Trbojevic suffered a grade two strain (a partial tear) to his right hamstring apparently after slipping over in the bathroom on Sunday morning. As unbelievable as it may seem to some, this is actually quite a common mechanism to cause a moderate to high grade hamstring injury amongst the general population.

A slip on wet surfaces often causes a sudden and violent stretch of the hamstring muscles, putting the body in similar positions to those Latrell Mitchell and Andrew McCullough faced on field last year causing complete hamstring tears.

This is obviously a significant blow to Trbojevic’s short term propsects, with an injury to his “good” hamstring causing further headaches for the Manly medical staff. The star fullback will be at an increased risk of further hamstring strain (10-30%) for at least the first 2-3 months after he returns to the field, especially considering his significant history of hamstring issues in the past two seasons.

In positive news the way the injury occurred should allay some fears for his long term future, with the circumstances mostly a result of “bad luck”. Not many hamstrings would survive a sudden slip and stretch without some sort of damage, and an injury in this manner is not really indicative of any underlying deficits or ongoing issues he has to address.

If the injury occurred during training or while sprinting then it would be natural for Trbojevic to wonder if he was addressing all of the appropriate physical deficits (e.g. strength, length) that could put him at risk for further hamstring injury. As it is he may just need to invest in some non-slip mats.

Originally published as Video: Injured Sea Eagles star Tom Trbojevic’s Manly Corso sprint