Trbojevic’s practitioner predicts Manly superstar could play until 2037
His methods may be unconventional but you can’t argue with the results, which makes this prediction about Tom Trbojevic a worry for the rest of the NRL.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It is the nightmare for rival NRL clubs that may not end until 2037.
The healing educator who repaired Tom Trbojevic’s problematic hamstrings has claimed the Manly superstar could play until he is 40. And Trbojevic can become faster and more durable.
Balmain-based AcuEnergetics practitioner Kevin Farrow – who specialises in bio-electrical methods to repair injuries – has no doubt 24-year-old Trbojevic, the best player in rugby league, can torment opposition sides for another 16 years.
And Farrow should know – he was the man to repair Trbojevic’s once troublesome hamstrings.
Farrow has also played a significant role in helping South Sydney champion Benji Marshall and Newcastle’s Mitchell Pearce overcome injuries to contest this year’s finals.
The 2021 NRL Telstra Finals Series are here and everything matters. Watch Live & Ad-Break Free on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free >
Trbojevic revisited Farrow after sustaining another hamstring injury from earlier this year and the results have been spectacular. The champion fullback appears totally cured with a fit, fixed and firing body. He has remarkably led Manly to a top four finish and is hot favourite to claim the Dally M Medal.
The company website states AcuEnergetics is “a modern treatment modality for the body and mind, with a unique and effective approach to treating illness.
“It works with the bio-electrical system in the body and by encouraging the body to promote faster, natural healing to ease pain and improve physical and emotional health.
“Our energy is influenced by injury, physical pressure, as well as our attitudes and thoughts (stress). It combines Chinese, Judaic, Indian and Western traditions, together with modern research and techniques to create this powerful and effective treatment modality.”
Most of the treatment is contact free.
Asked how long a now-healed Trbojevic could play until, Farrow said: “It would depend on him and it’s different for different people but it would be easy to get him to play until he is 40.
“And we can make him faster, yes. He is such an amazing, elite athlete, the most important thing is making him less susceptible to injury. You don’t win premierships by having your best player sitting on the sidelines.
“I don’t see any reasons why Benji couldn’t play until he was 40. Mitchell is 31 and he could easily play until he is 36, 37. We increase electrical pressure and electrical conductivity to the muscle. You learn how to make a positively charged field around your fingers and hands.
“Tommy came to me a couple of years ago and literally couldn’t lift his foot off the ground more than ten centimetres. He had a grade three hamstring. Yet after an hour, he could put his knee on his shoulder.
“That doesn’t mean that it’s fixed but, in terms of rehab, he ran five kilometres, three times a week, the whole time his hamstring was getting fixed.
“So when he came back to footy, everyone said: ‘Wow, he scored a hat trick in Origin’, in his second week back. Nobody could believe how fast he was running but that was because we got his flexibility up while he was healing.
“Last year, when he got an injury, for some reason, unbeknown to me, the club sent him down to Melbourne (for treatment). When he got the injury this year he just rang and said: ‘Fix me.’ We got him back playing and he kept coming back every week until they got stuck in Queensland.
“We increased his flexibility to make him run faster, give him more stamina and to lessen his susceptibility to injury. That’s the big thing with an elite player like him – if you can keep him on the park, you can keep winning games.
“We can also increase performance in terms of speed and stamina through increasing the availability of electrical charge to the muscles. This also extends careers as players don’t slowdown in their 30s. We did this with Benji and he ran faster according to the GPS than he’d done in ten years.”
Aside from Trbojevic, Pearce and Marshall, Farrow has worked on numerous current and past players, including Boyd Cordner, Wayne Pearce and injured Roosters and Queensland forward Lindsay Collins, who sought medical treatment last Friday.
Asked if his treatment was left field, Farrow said: “Anatomy professors don’t think it’s left field at all.”
Farrow, 67, has been researching since he was 19.
“What we do is speed up recovery times from injury through getting rid of the electrical blocks from the injury which allows the body’s repair signals to cause the repair mechanism to work more efficiently,” he said.
“Typically we can reduce injury times by about 30 per cent or more if players need to get back quickly. We can also lessen susceptibility to injury by increasing electrical flow through fascia and increasing flexibility.
“We can’t eliminate injury but if you can reduce injury by 20 to 25 per cent across a playing career, that’s a lot of playing. When players are being paid $20,000 to $50,000 a game it’s worth keeping them on the park.”
FORAN’S FINALS LESSON FOR YOUNG TEAMMATES
– Brent Read
Kieran Foran is ready to scratch a seven-year itch. The Manly five-eighth made a flying start to his career, but his last appearance in the finals was in 2014, part of a Sea Eagles side that was dumped from the competition by Canterbury in a golden-point thriller.
At the time, Foran thought finals were par for the course, but the years since have been a barren wasteland, his career going off the rails due to injury and personal challenges.
As he prepares to return to the finals with the Sea Eagles, Foran is a tangible example to his teammates of the need to grasp the opportunity that lies in front of them.
“I remember getting knocked out by Canterbury that year,” Foran said. “We must have lost the first (final) to someone – I think it might have been Souths. We had to play Canterbury and Hodko (Trent Hodkinson) kicked a couple of field goals.
“It feels like a lifetime to be honest with you. I was lucky enough to play in quite a few finals games early in my career. I guess I was fortunate that I was in such an experienced side as a young kid.
“I was always surrounded by guys who instilled such belief and confidence. So much has happened in between that time.
“There were periods through that last seven years I probably doubted if I would ever get back to playing finals footy, if I would ever get the opportunity again. It feels great to be back here.”
Foran was reflecting on his travails with youngster Josh Schuster after the Sea Eagles big win over North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday night, a result that clinched a place in the top four and set up a game against Melbourne in the opening week of the finals.
Manly will head into that game on Friday on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast as outsiders but their confidence is soaring after a remarkable run that has been inspired by the form of fullback Tom Trbojevic.
At 31, the clock is ticking on Foran’s career. He is playing as well as ever and he has surprised even himself with the way his body – so often his undoing in recent years – has handled the rigours of this season.
Even so, Foran appreciates the need to seize the moment.
“I was having that conversation with young Josh Schuster after the game,” he said. “He was saying how excited he is, his first finals series in pretty much his first year of first grade. On the flip side of that, I was explaining that I hadn’t been involved in finals for seven years.
“The reality is as a young kid, I thought it was just the norm. I thought top four was the norm and being involved in finals series is just what happened.
“But I have learnt along the way that it is actually extremely tough to play finals and make the top eight. It is even tougher to go all the way.
“That is the hardest thing – you want players to not change anything they might be doing and all the young kids to play the footy they have played, but at the same time it is about realising the importance of the situation and that you may never get an opportunity like this again in your career.
“Some blokes go their whole career and never play finals footy. As you say, I haven’t played finals footy for seven years and that is a long time to go without.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Trbojevic’s practitioner predicts Manly superstar could play until 2037
Bulldogs ramp up Hunt chase after missing out on Storm star
The Bulldogs are set to turn their attention back to Ben Hunt, after Canterbury supremo Phil Gould failed in a secret last-ditch attempt to poach Melbourne Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen.
Ex-NRL star’s impressive heavyweight KO
Alex Leapai Jr, a promising NRL front-rower before making the switch to boxing, has impressed with a dominant knockout.