By Christian Nicolussi and Adrian Proszenko
Daly Cherry-Evans is likely to play for Manly next Sunday after suffering back spasms in his club’s loss to the Warriors on Friday, but the Sea Eagles will monitor Tom Trbojevic after he experienced stiffness in his lower back and hamstrings.
The Sea Eagles also confirmed they were aware of an incident involving Gordon Chan Kum Tong, who clashed with a spectator on Friday night as Jake Trbojevic was sent to the sin bin at Go Media Stadium. The NRL is investigating the incident.
Sources with knowledge of the situation, talking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed Manly officials asked venue security at half-time to monitor the behaviour of three fans due to abuse directed at officials and the Manly bench.
Manly’s 36-16 loss to the Warriors was made worse when their two best players, Cherry-Evans and Trbojevic, failed to finish the game.
Cherry-Evans, however, told this masthead after he had touched down in Sydney on Saturday that he suffered a cork to his calf, which later caused tightness in his back.
“I picked up a cork in the first five or 10 minutes, I was running a bit differently, and as a result the back and hips were being overloaded,” Cherry-Evans said.
Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans were both injured in Manly’s loss to the Warriors.Credit: Getty Images
“That’s as simple as it was. There was no impact injury. But I’ll be very surprised if I’m not playing next week.”
Coach Anthony Seibold said on Saturday: “Tommy has a little bit of tightness through his lower back and left hammy, but the medical staff aren’t too concerned. He’ll get a scan on Sunday to be certain with everything.
“And ‘Chez’ pulled up pretty good. Both of them have. There are no real concerns; it’s precautionary with ‘Turbo’ and we want to make sure we know what we’re dealing with.”
Seibold said he was unsure if there was one particular incident that caused Trbojevic to tighten up before he was brought from the field in the final 15 minutes of the game.
Trbojevic has had issues with his hamstrings in recent years, but enjoyed an injury-free pre-season, and was back to his devastating best in the opening round against North Queensland. He scored Manly’s opening try against the Warriors on Friday night.
Social media footage emerged late Friday of Chan Kum Tong confronting a Warriors fan before the pair were separated by another home supporter.
“The NRL is aware of the video shared on social media and is making enquiries,” an NRL spokesperson said.
This masthead also attempted to contact Chan Kum Tong.
“The only thing I know is there were a couple of supporters who were disrespectful with their language towards Jake Trbojevic, so Gordie asked him to pull his head in,” Seibold said. “That was it from what I understand.”
The Sea Eagles enjoy a nine-day break before hosting Canberra next Sunday evening. Lehi Hopoate will play fullback should Trbojevic fail to be fit.