Tom Trbojevic will have final call on State of Origin spot, says Blues adviser Greg Alexander
The Blues are prepared to give Tom Trbojevic plenty of slack when it comes to State of Origin consideration even though he’s become an injury-prone player who has barely taken the field this year.
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This will be the honesty session which will answer the NSW Blues’ biggest question — will superstar Tom Trbojevic be selected?
NSW coach Brad Fittler and Blues adviser Greg Alexander plan to call injured Manly fullback Trbojevic to a meeting and simply ask: Are you up for State of Origin?
The final decision will belong to Trbojevic.
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“The ball is in Tom’s court,” Alexander said.
“That will be a conversation we have with him. In my mind, if ‘Turbo’ is feeling good in himself, that would be good enough for me, absolutely. I would be leaving it more up to Turbo.”
Pressed on whether Trbojevic would be reluctant to rule himself out, Alexander said: “Turbo wouldn’t put himself or NSW in that position. No.”
In his first game back after a 12-match absence through a hamstring injury, Trbojevic sustained a posterior shoulder injury in Manly’s loss to Gold Coast on Saturday. He will miss Manly’s final game of the season against New Zealand Warriors on Sunday in Gosford.
Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler conceded that Trbojevic’s rehabilitation program would take three to four weeks to complete. That would have Trbojevic back two to three weeks before for Origin I in Adelaide on November 4. And that would also mean Trbojevic would enter game one against Queensland having played just once in 18 weeks.
The Blues, though, have no plans to overlook Trbojevic, who starred for NSW on the wing in 2018 and again last year at right centre.
Trbojevic, still just 23-years-old, looked a dejected and forlorn figure walking off Lottoland mid-match against the Titans.
“It will be a conversation Freddie, me and the coaching team have with Turbo to see how he is feeling but, right now, it (the injury) won’t rule him out of Origin,” Alexander said.
“My line of thinking is that if Turbo is fit and feels good then he would be in. That’s my way of thinking, without having spoken to Freddie.
“If he feels like he’s up to it, his body feels good and he’s ready to go then it doesn’t matter that he’s only played one game.
“We would do that because that is the sort of player that he is. He has been one of our best, whether it was on the wing or centre. Turbo was among the top few players in both series.
“I haven’t seen a medical report so I don’t know exactly how serious it is but I know he’s not playing this weekend. The hamstring seemed all right on Saturday. He had a 100 metres sprint chase on Gold Coast’s Treymain Spry.”
Hasler added: “The selectors would have to consider him because of his pedigree and what he’s done. But I think the rehab would be a good three to four weeks, a good month.”
Three Origin games in three weeks will only add to the immense physical drain on players.
Fittler and Alexander would probably decide between Brisbane’s Kotoni Staggs and St George Illawarra’s Zac Lomax should Trbojevic be ruled out.
With their club sides having missed the finals, Staggs and Lomax will not have played for five weeks before the opening game at Adelaide Oval.
The other NSW centre will be Canberra’s Jack Wighton, who has excelled once again this year at five-eighth. The Blues may opt for Roosters champion Luke Keary at No.6 and keep Wighton at left centre.
JAKE ‘DEVASTATED’ BY TOM’S INJURY WOES
Jake Trbojevic held back tears after his brother Tom suffered another injury in a nightmare comeback that could crush his State of Origin dream.
On a dark day that saw the Sea Eagles crash to their worst loss of the year, Jake revealed his fears for his brother’s career after the NSW flyer was taken from the field with a “shoulder stinger”.
In a horror return from an ankle injury, Trbojevic dropped balls, missed tackles and let in a try as the Titans ran riot to deliver a 42-24 Brookvale bashing.
The injury news is in on Tom Trbojevic 🤕https://t.co/yj1Coee3Or#ManlyForever pic.twitter.com/VWVJEPcXLm
— Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (@SeaEagles) September 19, 2020
Jake could not hide his devastation after another injury put his brother’s career in doubt.
“I just hope is okay,” Jake said. “It is just devastating. He has had just a hard run over the last couple of years and it is frustrating for him.
Being his big brother, it is just so hard and I just hope he is okay. He will be so disappointed.
“He works so hard and just loves his football, so another injury is just so devastating.
“We get a lot of confidence from having him on the field and our season has gone backwards without him. I was so excited to have him back out there and for him to go down again it is just devastating.”
Tom Trbojevic off with R shoulder injury, reported as stinger/burner & taken off for precautionary reasons. Mechanism of injury suggests some risk for injury to AC joint/shoulder subluxation as he falls on outstretched arm/forced across body. Hopefully no structural damage pic.twitter.com/7A6gQbZRsO
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) September 19, 2020
BLOWN TURBO
A shockwave was sent through NSW when Blues flyer Trbojevic was taken from the field in the 62nd after succumbing to a shoulder injury.
Making his return after an agonising 60 days on the sideline, Trbojevic endured a comeback nightmare with the Titans going on a romp after Manly started by scoring the first try.
Wearing 21, Trbojevic hinted at the horror show that would come when he dropped a ball during a tackle in the first half.
Trbojevic is now in doubt for State of Origin with scans to determine the full extent of his latest injury.
“We will get him scanned but obviously it is a shoulder,” Manly coach Des Hasler said.
“It could be a rotator cuff or something like that but we won’t know until we get the scans. It could be a number of things but we need to confirm with the scan.”
Hasler revealed Tom had taken the injury better than his brother Jake.
“He was fine,” Hasler said.
“It is just one of those things. I think he thought he could work it off but it probably wasn’t worth leaving him on that stage.”
NO EXCUSES
Des Hasler refused to use the Trbojevic injury for the eight tries to four flogging that saw Manly’s season crash to a new low.
Blown of the park as they looked to salvage their season by recording back to back wins, Hasler slammed his side as soft.
“There are no excuses for the way we played today,” Hasler said.
“They were terribly ill-disciplined with the ball and very soft. Some of those tries were just too easy. We could have shown a bit more resilience. There were some patches of footy that were just not up to standard.”
RECORD POINTS SCORING SPREE
The Titans scored four second half tries to make it a Brookvale bashing in what was their best win of the year.
After blowing the Sea Eagles away with four first half tries, the Titans went on with the job with both Brimson and Tonumaipea scoring doubles.
In a COVID interrupted season, Justin Holbrook has proved a revelation by transforming the Gold Coast into Queensland’s best team.
“It was great to take control of the first half,” Holbrook said. “I am very proud of the boys. I am just happy that we went on to get the win.”