Manly hanging by a thread but Tom Trbojevic still a week away
With Manly’s finals hopes hanging by a thread, Des Hasler won’t rush superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic back against South Sydney.
With Manly’s finals hopes hanging by a thread, Des Hasler has delivered more pain on when declaring superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic won’t be rushed back for Saturday’s must-win clash against South Sydney.
And in the wake of another heartbreaking 26-24 loss to Newcastle — that now leaves the injury-ravaged Sea Eagles four competition points outside the top eight — Hasler also delivered a not-so-subtle jab at referee Ashley Klein.
Walking a fine line, Hasler claimed the 11-4 penalty count “kind of kept them in the game”. He later said he was being “facetious”.
Whatever the case, a team that started the season with such high hopes now look down for the count with six rounds remaining. After racing to a 12-0 lead inside the opening 10 minutes, Manly slipped behind 16-12 at halftime — before clawing back to lead 24-20 heading into the final 10 minutes.
Ultimately it was weight of possession and yet another touch of class from the magical Kalyn Ponga that sealed a vital win for the Knights who move to sixth on the ladder, just a point off the fourth-placed Sydney Roosters and Canberra.
A week after Ivan Cleary was slugged $20,000 for claiming it felt like Canberra had been “managed” back into the game, Hasler was at his crafty best.
It’s certainly not going to earn Hasler a fine. But he made sure that he made his point.
“It is supposed to be a game to increase fatigue but Ashley found an 11-3 penalty count,” Hasler said. “So that would be my only gripe. 11-3 against … it kind of kept them in the game. I don’t mind the 11 against, I just want a few more than 3.”
Although the count was actually 11-4, no one wanted to point out Des’s slight discrepancy. He then suggested refs’ boss Bernie Sutton might need to “do a review of Ashley and his penalties.”
Questioned that he “clearly felt hard done by,” Hasler responded: “No. Not hard done by. It’s just an explanation.”
Asked if Sutton needed to review Klein, he added: “I was being facetious. Just a joke. You can’t be fined for being facetious, can you? I just wanted to check. I might have to explain the word facetious to Bernie.”
Going into the game without props Marty Taupau and Addin Fonua-Blake as well as Dylan Walker, a “rested” Jorge Taufua, and the flying fullback, most judges expected the Knights to put a score of the Sea Eagles.
Joel Thompson also suffered an ugly injury as he lost part of his tongue during the game.
After losing Brendan Elliot to what looks a season-ending ACL knee injury, the Sea Eagles had nothing go their way.
What’s worse, Hasler said Trbojevic still has at least two weeks before he’s back. Trbojevic hasn’t played since suffering the injury in round six in that courageous win over Canberra.
From that point Manly has only managed two wins in eight games, their last win against North Queensland in round 11.
The Daily Telegraph
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