By Dan Walsh and Christian Nicolussi
Manly have begun canvassing the player market and enquiring about salary cap relief from the NRL in anticipation of star fullback Tom Trbojevic being ruled out for the season by a pectoral injury suffered in Origin II.
Trbojevic is expected to undergo surgery on a torn pectoral after he went down in just the third minute of Queensland’s emphatic win, throwing the NSW line-up out for almost the entire contest.
Trbojevic is booked in to see a specialist on Friday in the hope he won’t be rubbed out for the season.
Manly CEO Tony Mestrov has already been in contact with NRL salary cap auditor Matthew Faulkner to work through the finer points of an application for dispensation following Trbojevic’s injury.
Under NRL rules introduced in 2018, clubs can apply for up to $350,000 in relief if a player is injured in a representative game and is ruled out for at least 12 games.
“We’re going through the process and the NRL has been very cooperative, Matt Faulkner has talked us through it, what that looks like and then we’ll action anything we need to,” Mestrov told this masthead. “Player-wise, there’s a number of options that we’ll go through.”
The Sea Eagles have filled their top 30 already for this season, but a 31st player can be added to Anthony Seibold’s list under the rules if Trbojevic’s expected three-to-four month recovery is confirmed.
Any player sourced to replace Trbojevic - who ranks among the NRL’s highest-paid, on more than $1 million a year - must be considered “like-for-like” in regards to position played, and would be paid on a pro-rata basis.
Previous applications for salary cap relief for players injured at rep level have also required proof the injury was not related to a pre-existing issue. Trbojevic has ruptured his left pectoral before, but Wednesday’s injury was on his right side.
“What it means from a monetary perspective, and in terms of players we could look at, I don’t know. It’s early days,” Mestrov said.
Tom Trbojevic’s importance at Manly cannot be overstated.Credit: Getty
“We’re down to Melbourne [for Saturday’s clash with the Storm] so this will go on for the next four or five days until early next week, I’d say.”
Manly and Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans made a beeline for his teammate after full-time and knows how difficult life will be without him - but said the man himself would be doing it even tougher.
“Straight away my heart went out to him, I felt awful watching him walk off the field, I really did,” Cherry-Evans said. “We need to get around him and support him now. There will be a lot of people have an opinion because he’s Tom Trbojevic.
“But I hope we can separate Tom Trbojevic the footballer from Tom Trbojevic the person because he’s going to need support at the moment. We need to be careful with him and look after him.
”I went and found him straight away after full-time. Injuries in sport are always the hardest part to wrap your head around. Even your biggest enemies out there, you don’t wish for them to be injured.
“When it’s your teammate and someone you care about, it’s hard to watch.”
Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold said of Trbojevic: “I really feel for him. Not only is he a great person away from footy, but he’s so diligent and hard working when it comes to preparing his body. He’s one of the most humble, hard-working guys I’ve come across.
“It’s really unfortunate because I’ve seen how hard he’s worked. It seems unfair it continues to happen to him.”
Meanwhile, Cherry-Evans spoke about the inspirational moment his 34-year-old legs mowed down Stephen Crichton in one of the most inspirational plays on Wednesday.
Crichton scooped up the ball on his own 10m but was gunned down by Cherry-Evans who steamed over from the other side of the field. He joked he was trying to enjoy his own Scott Sattler moment, which was a reference to the wonderful try-saving tackle in the 2003 grand final.
“I knew I had to get a headstart to be any chance, I tried to put myself in the picture, and I was lucky to be there at the right time,” Cherry-Evans said.
“It’s funny how slow I was going in my head. I could feel Queensland riding me to get there for them, and I wanted to make that play for the team. I was thinking this could be a great moment for our team to turn them away here.”
Crichton said of being dragged down by the Maroons’ skipper: “I wasn’t surprised [he got me], I’m just slow. That’s the attitude they came in with, it was the same as game one, they were saving tries and being in the picture. It helped them come away with the comfortable win.”