Tom Trbojevic stars as Manly Sea Eagles thrash Canberra Raiders 32-16 at Brookvale
MANLY’s week of trouble continued as Tom Trbojevic suffered an ankle injury after the freakish fullback destroyed the Canberra Raiders at Brookvale.
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TRENT Barrett declared the salary cap scandal would not ruin the Sea Eagles season after Manly beat the Raiders in a Brookvale bashing that came just five days after the breach bombshell.
The man who set up the 32-16 win, Tom Trbojevic, suffered an ankle complaint after destroying the Raiders.
Trbojevic was taken from the field in the 73rd minute after scoring a try and setting up another four in the season’s most stunning solo show.
Trbojevic was able to put weight on the ankle in the sheds after the match and Barrett is hoping it is a minor injury.
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“I don’t know how he is yet,’’ Barrett said. “It is an ankle problem of some sort I have my fingers crossed because he seems to be getting around on it.
“And fingers crossed because he was absolutely outstanding. He did what we all know he can do.’’
In a stunning response to the NRL sanctions that will also force them to shed $660,000 worth of playing talent over the next two years, Manly blasted out of the blocks to bolt to a 26-6 lead over the Raiders at halftime.
The blitz, which saw them score three tries in just five minutes, was started when Trbojevic stood up Sam Williams in the 9th minute to put brother Jake under the posts for Manly’s first try.
It continued when the kid called “Turbo’’ scored the next try before setting up another three in a performance of both speed and skill.
“He is a very special player,’’ Barrett said. “And we need to keep on putting him in those position so he can play like that. Our best players all stood up tonight and set up that win for us.’’
After conceding the first try when Sia Soliola crashed over from close range to give the Raiders a 6-0 lead, the Sea Eagles ran riot to bounce back from last week’s heavy defeat to the Rabbitohs.
But more importantly, the win showed the Sea Eagles would not be affected — at least this year — by the salary cap sanctions that rocked the club on Monday.
“It won’t affect us,’’ Barrett said.
“Not the way we play. Obviously it has repercussions elsewhere, in terms of recruitment and what we can and can’t do, but that is not the players responsibility. I will do my best to shield them from it and we will keep trucking along.’’
Barrett said the five tries to two thrashing was “right of reply’’ he was looking for from his side following a week of controversy.
“I think the majority of the squad is dealing pretty easily with it,’’ Barrett said.
“A lot of the players don’t worry about much at all. It was more of a distraction for Daly and myself. I think it was an important day for the club that we won and important for the club that we won. The only right of reply the players have is to play well and I thought they did that tonight.’’
Ricky Stuart slammed the Raiders as soft after Canberra continued their winless season with a fourth straight loss.
“Soft,’’ Stuart said.
“It was soft football. It was soft play. It was soft choices. I have been protecting them for too long and there was no effort from them in the first half and it was soft. The only good thing is that we had no injuries so I can send the same 17 to make up for delivering that crap. They should be embarrassed to put on a Raiders jumper.’’
Manly also lost Curtis Sironen (knee) and Kelepi Tanginoa (knee) to injury on what could prove a costly night. Manly captain Daly Cherry Evans admitted he struggled after being linked to sanctions that were levelled because of third party breaches.
“It is not ideal,’’ Cherry Evans said.
“I can’t remember anything as big as this hitting in the club. It is hard not to think about it. It’s hard when your name is attached to something like this. But we took a lot of pride out of performance tonight.’’
Full-time MANLY 32 (M Wright 2 D Cherry-Evans T Trbojevic J Trbojevic tries D Cherry- Evans 6 goals) bt CANBERRA 16 (J Croker I Soliola J Wighton tries J Croker 2 goals) at Lottoland. Referee: Adam Gee, Tim Roby. Crowd: 9,392.