Tom Trbojevic struggles as James Tedesco’s Roosters edge Manly 22-20
ONE bad performance won’t end Tom Trbojevic’s State of Origin chances but it certainly won’t help. And making it worse, his was one-on-one against his main NSW rival, James Tedesco.
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IT was the day Tom’s blues may have cost him a chance of representing the Blues.
It was also a day when Cherry wasn’t so ripe.
Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic endured a horrid performance in his Sea Eagles’ 22-20 loss to the Sydney Roosters.
Trbojevic fumbled his way through a difficult match in front of Channel 9 commentator and NSW coach Brad Fittler.
He looked unsure and nervous under the high ball.
One bad performance won’t end Trbojevic’s chances but it certainly won’t help. And making it worse, Trbojevic’s was one-on-one against his main NSW rival, James Tedesco.
As good as he is in open play, and as good as his running game can be, Trbojevic has some handling issues.
He looked shaken by his performance, which included four handling errors.
“I thought ‘Turbo’ had some brilliant touches, as he always does, but he came up with a couple of errors at crucial times,” Manly coach Trent Barrett said.
“We just have to get that out of our game across the board. Not just Tom. He will be first in there tomorrow watching his video and looking to improve.
“He’s young but it’s no excuse for us at this level. We’ve got to cut them out — he hurts as much as anyone.
“He is going to play a hell of a lot of rep football down the track and he will do a good job if chosen. But there are some things we all need to tidy up across the board.”
No one is blaming Daly Cherry-Evans for the loss but a simple missed conversion in the seventh minute was costly. The kick was just three metres off centre yet Cherry-Evans somehow pulled it.
It was a nasty miss from a kicker with an 82 per cent success rate this season.
Had Cherry-Evans kicked it, the game would have gone into golden point.
“If you want to blame the loss on that, go for it,” Cherry-Evans said.
“Two points is two points and that one slipped away from us, didn’t it?
“We’re just in a really tough situation. We only need one win and the whole momentum of our season changes.”
It was Manly’s fifth successive loss. They sit anchored on four competition points, their semi-finals aspirations buried.
On Sunday, though, they had a red-hot crack and proved they are a team playing for their embattled coach. Nineteen penalties were issued, coupled with 23 errors, for a total of 42 stoppages — a familiar theme this season.
“Our attitude and commitment to the cause over the last two weeks has certainly been great,” Barrett said.
“I certainly can’t fault them in those areas.
“The game was there to be won and I thought we were the better team today, to be honest, but just couldn’t get away with it in the end.
“It will change. If they keep committing to each other, we will win.”
The Roosters hit the front just two minutes into the second half through prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves after Trbojevic dropped a bomb.
The Roosters were dominant for most of the second half but just couldn’t land that knockout blow.
Manly winger Akuila Uate scored with four minutes remaining to set up a thrilling finish but the Roosters stayed composed to secure victory.
“We are still making too many individual errors in yardage,” Barrett said.
“We let in 12 points today that I don’t think they earned through just one-on-one missed tackles close to the tryline.
“They are shattered that they’ve lost but there are encouraging signs there. That’s the biggest plus we can take out of it.
“Every club goes through it; it’s our turn at the moment.”
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 22 (B Ferguson I Liu J Waerea-Hargreaves tries L Mitchell 5 goals) bt MANLY 20 (A Uate 2 A Fonua-Blake tries D Cherry-Evans 4 goals) at Allianz Stadium. Referee: Henry Perenara, Jon Stone. Crowd: 10,129