NRL 2021: Sea Eagles v Titans, Tom Trbojevic confirms billing as game’s best player
Nathan Cleary. James Tedesco. Cameron Munster. But when debating the best player in the game, Tom Trbojevic is impossible to go past after this masterclass.
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Take a bow Tommy Turbo, the best player in the game today.
It was a tale of the master and apprentice fullbacks on the Gold Coast and remarkably it was Titans rookie Jayden Campbell who for a while threatened to have the last laugh on Manly’s Tom Trbojevic.
No surprise though, when hat-trick hero Trbojevic went through the gears in the second half with his ball playing genius and strength to the forefront it was Manly who stormed back from a 24-8 half-time deficit to win 56-24.
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It was a fullback shootout in the first half with rookie Campbell virtually saying to Trbojevic, “anything you can do…so can I.”
The Titans scored the first try of the match when Campbell latched onto a Tyrone Peachey kick but Trbojevic hit back with two trademark tries, the second with a giant leap ignited by turbo boosters where he stole the ball out of young Campbell’s grasp. Campbell then set up two tries with grubbers and the Gold Coast led 24-8.
Trbojevic owned the second half like few players in the history of the game.
Manly came roaring back with Jason Saab streaking away and Trbojevic setting up Reuben Garrick. Daly Cherry-Evans grubbered for Saab and the comeback was on. Trbojevic gave Garrick another saloon passage to the line, and then — surprise, surprise — he did it again and the Sea Eagles hit the lead 32-24. When Trbojevic stormed through the middle of the field like a runaway rhino to notch his third hat-trick for the Sea Eagles the Titans were done.
Trbojevic, in a sign of the standards he sets, was not as bullish about his display when asked where it ranked in his career.
“If you’d asked at half-time, not well,” he said.
“I was disappointed we let five tries in off kicks and as a fullback you don’t like to see that but we obviously reacted well in the second half and won it 48-0.
“I have a lot of faith in this team and feel really good within myself playing my role. You look at that second-half, we were near perfect so it can be a building block going forward.”
GREAT DEBATE OVER
Nathan Cleary. James Tedesco. Cameron Munster. Take your pick, but when debating who is the best player in the game Tom Trbojevic is impossible to go past.
That “greatest” debate reignited when Tommy Turbo leapt like no-one else can to snaffle his second try in two minutes in the first half.
Fox League commentator Andrew Voss said Trbojevic “ticks every box” to lay claim to being the greatest right now.
“If you look at just this season…he has to be,” fellow commentator Steve Roach said.
“I didn’t think we’d ever see another Billy Slater but who is to say as his career goes on that he is not going to be better.”
Maroons and Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans weighed into the great debate after the win.
“Tom gets my vote,” Cherry-Evans said.
“He is outstanding and works so hard on his game. We are obviously going to talk about how good he is with the footy but he is good defensively as well. He is in a purple patch of form at the moment but I believe it is sustainable. I don’t think it is just a little spike in his career.”
Cherry-Evans is hoping that spike hits a decline next Sunday in Game Two of the Origin series after his Manly teammate tore the Maroons to shreds in the Blues big 50-6 win in Game One.
“He was a big part of their win off the back of a real powerful display by their forwards, but we will learn from that,” Cherry-Evans said.
GARRICK THE GREAT
Winger Garrick joined a laundry list of the greatest Manly players of all time including Bob Fulton, Steve Menzies and Ken Irvine with four tries for the game, just one short of winger Les Hanigan’s club record of five set in 1967.
Remarkably his game haul of 28 points could have been far greater if he’d brought his kicking boots, but in the wash-up that did not matter one iota.
HEY PRESTO
When Jayden Campbell debuted for the Titans in round 13 he became, with his old man Preston, the first son/father combo to play for the Titans. Jayden’s debut NRL try was one to savour for the Campbell clan when he followed a Tyrone Peachey grubber to score the opening try.
“He’s taking off exactly where his father left off,” Fox League commentator Corey Parker said.
The early signs are promising with the younger Campbell playing with the toughness, instinct and razzle that Preston made his trademark.
After Trbojevic stole the ball out of his arms, Campbell did not flinch the next time the ball went up and leapt with no fear to return the complement on Jason Saab.
His sublime grubber kick for Greg Marzhew was followed by another, via a deflection, for Patrick Herbert to score in one of the most accomplished first halves you would see by a rookie.
MAROONS GO MISSING
The barnstorming displays of Queensland duo David Fifita and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui finally gave Maroons coach Paul Green something to smile about after news of Queensland hooker Harry Grant’s hamstring injury broke just before kick-off.
The Titans duo, kept quiet by NSW in Game One, were dominant in the opening stanza against the Sea Eagles with both running for more than 100m and Fifita scoring a try.
In the second half, like the rest of their teammates, the pair went missing in action mainly because they could not get their hands on the football.
Coach Justin Holbrook was a dejected man after his side’s capitulation.
“Right from the start of the second half they got on top and we couldn’t do a thing to stop it,” he said.
“They didn’t know what they were doing, and it showed defensively. We have let ourselves down and everyone involved in our club.
“It is unacceptable. It is the lowest I have felt watching that second half unfold. It was horrible.”
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