‘Bloody shattering’: Tom Trbojevic’s horror injury blow breaks NRL hearts
The Sea Eagles have put their home final fate in their own hands but the side have also been dealt a nightmare blow in their bid to make it happen.
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Manly have put themselves in the box seat to earn a home elimination semi-final in the first week of the finals, but the 34-22 win over the Bulldogs has come at a cost.
The Sea Eagles put their loss to the Tigers well behind them as they took down the red-hot Bulldogs in front of a reported record 6pm crowd at Allianz Stadium.
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With the Bulldogs and Cowboys both having already played this weekend and sitting on 34 competition points each before they play each other next week, the result sees the Sea Eagles move to 33 points.
It means that a win next week against the Cronulla Sharks will book a home semi-final for the Sea Eagles regardless of the result in the Bulldogs-Cowboys clash.
Even in the unlikely event of a draw between Canterbury and North Queensland, Manly would jump into sixth place as the Sea Eagles have a better points differential than the Cowboys.
It was a result that has left Manly’s fate in its own hands but the side will likely have to do it without Tom Trbojevic next week.
With 16 minutes left, Trbojevic went to make a tackle on Jacob Preston with friendly fire from Luke Brooks running into the star fullback and seemingly accidentally causing the damage.
In the same incident, Trbojevic was left with blood pouring from his face from a gash above his eye.
It overshadowed the remainder of the match with the NRL community waiting for any news on the injury.
With minutes left in the match, James Hooper revealed: “It’s an AC injury for Tom Trbojevic and that right shoulder, he will need to go for scans but you would be thinking he would probably miss weeks.”
Dan Ginnane responded: “That’s a catastrophe for Manly. The finals start in a fortnight, and it was late in the game too. That’s terrible, can the man get a break.”
But Greg Alexander said it might be the best case of a bad situation.
“If it is an AC joint injury, that’s no the worst result,” he said. “It hasn’t dislocated, so as long as it hasn’t subluxed, gone out and gone in again, I feel better about that.”
He added it’s an injury that can be needled and is unlikely to require a shoulder reconstruction.
However, the NRL Physio X account wrote that the concern is that Trbojevic has had previous right shoulder instability in 2000.
It was a brutal way for Trbojevic’s long-awaited 150th game to end.
His brother Jake Trbojevic told Triple M after the game: “Tom’s the most resilient person I’ve seen in my life, to get his 150th today after what he’s been through …
“I love him so much, I’m so proud of him and to see him go off was heartbreaking.”
The Sydney Morning Herald’s Christian Nicolussi tweeted: “That look on Tommy Trbojevic’s face — bloody shattering. When will he get some luck on injury front. Good blokes deserve good karma.”
It wasn’t the only injury worry with Sea Eagles speedster Jason Saab also leaving the ground with a high-ankle sprain.
It was also a loss the Bulldogs didn’t need as it leaves the Sharks and Panthers the chance to wrap up their top four spots this weekend with victories.
It also ended the Bulldogs perfect 10-0 home record in 2024 with a monster crowd of 35,502 fans, mostly wearing blue and white, flocking to what is usually the NRL’s graveyard timeslot.
The night couldn’t have started any better when Reed Mahoney scored before the visitors had even touched the ball.
But it went downhill pretty quickly from there as their league-best defence crumbled to concede a season-high 34 points.
And things could get worse after Matt Burton failed an HIA while Bronson Xerri was placed on report for a hip-drop tackle on Saab.
Lehi Hopoate continued the impressive start to his NRL career, scoring two tries and running for 123m.
With Martin Gabor, NewsWire
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