By Dan Walsh and Billie Eder
Tom Trbojevic insists he will be fit to line up against the Roosters on Saturday after the Sea Eagles star defied obvious discomfort with two painkilling injections to lead Manly to a thrilling comeback win that ended Canterbury’s season.
Trbojevic re-aggravated the grade 3 AC joint injury in his left shoulder that occurred on the same Accor Stadium turf two weeks ago, but still conjured the match-winning play in Manly’s 24-22 win on Sunday afternoon.
The Sea Eagles No.1 also carried a knee injury into the contest and laboured through much of the match as Canterbury took 10-point leads on two separate occasions in front of a 50,704-strong crowd firmly in their favour.
Trbojevic looked busted more often than not – except when he was setting up the match-winning try for Tolu Koula by running it on the last from deep inside Manly territory.
Koula beat three Bulldogs defenders and wrong-footed fullback Connor Tracey with a spectacular 72nd-minute try that proved the difference, sending the Sea Eagles and Trbojevic through to a showdown with the Roosters on Saturday.
“It will be fine. Obviously, it’s a sore injury, so it is what it is, but I felt better in the second half,” Trbojevic said after having pain-killing injections both before kick-off and at halftime. “Not sure how I looked, but I felt better. They’re just sore injuries.”
Tom Trbojevic was in obvious discomfort for most of the match.Credit: NRL Photos
Coach Anthony Seibold played down the suggestion winger Jason Saab could return from an ankle injury against the Roosters and was confident Trbojevic can be managed through both the training week and Allianz Stadium clash.
“We’ve only got a six-day turnaround so again we’ll review and do medicals tomorrow and some recovery,” Seibold said. “But [Trbjoevic] can move, he can run ... we’ll just see how much training he does on Wednesday.
“We won’t do a whole lot on Wednesday, but we’ll do what we need to and go again. Turbo will be part of that. He was always planned to have another needle [at halftime]. He’s fine, and he’ll be right to go again.”
Just what sort of shape Trbojevic is in against the Roosters looms as an enduring storyline this week.
Luke Brooks with the smile of a winner after the Sea-Eagles’ amazing victory.Credit: Getty Images
Ciraldo’s own marquee men, Stephen Crichton and Viliame Kikau, did everything in their considerable powers to set up what looked like a Bulldogs victory for much of the match.
Manly only led for 13 of the 80 minutes, while Kikau was a marauding monster on kick chases and the Bulldogs left-edge.
At 195 centimetres and 116 kilos of Fijian granite, Kikau had Reuben Garrick and Lehi Hopoate backpedalling, falling over their own feet – and each other -- before he shrugged off Trbojevic in powering his way over the line.
When Crichton raced through to score from a Matt Burton chip behind the line, the Sea Eagles No.1 was conspicuously careful to not fall onto his injured shoulder to clean up the bouncing ball.
The Dogs led 16-6 after 23 minutes and the bash-up two weeks ago from Manly had been officially turned back on the Sea Eagles.
But Manly stayed in the fight. First with a dubious Ethan Bullemore try in which a Hopoate forward pass went unchecked. And then, after Crichton had batted back for Jeral Skelton to score, when skipper Daly Cherry-Evans set up a grandstand finish.
The scrum move he and Luke Brooks concocted to split the Bulldogs and make it 22-18 belongs on the skipper’s mantelpiece.
“It was a bit selective for this week but as you could see on my face, it didn’t come off all week [at training] so it was nice to get it right on game day,” Cherry-Evans grinned.
And then, after lighting up the 2024 season like no other side, Canterbury began to fade. Simple passes were dropped. Penalties began to mount.
Tackles were missed, but their famed scramble defence wavered. And Trbojevic, with one arm hanging on and his side having done the same all day, took his chance.
But even after Koula took flight, the Dogs still had time, and their survival instincts put to the test. Burton managed to get two clean shots at a two-point field goal despite less than ideal set-ups, but both times the ball fell short.
When the last one missed and the clock ran out, Trbojevic cleaned up and tossed the ball towards the stands with his right arm. The grimace he wore all day was suddenly a beaming smile.
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