As things turned out, the Swans got up in sensational circumstances, but Manly, despite a late comeback bid, lost to the lowly Raiders, to sleep even further into the NRL abyss. It’s the Sea Eagles’ worst start to a season since 2009, when they lost their first four games in a row. At least Manly has one win on the board this year.
I’m not so naïve as to think that this is just a small speed bump this year. The season, for all purposes, is probably over. The Sea Eagles, much as I hate to say it, don’t look like troubling anyone. Yes, last night’s loss came with a host of star power on the sidelines – Steve Matai and Jamie Lyon chief amongst them, talismans both – but I’m still concerned by the apparent lack of application by departing halved Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran, and that lack of offensive touch.
Most concerning, however, is the inability of the pack to do their job. Manly went from, say, a top-5 forward unit last year to one that now languishes in the bottom five. Losing Jason King, Anthony Watmough and Glenn Stewart in the off-season didn’t help matters, and the problem is that their replacements are either ineffective or part of an injury list that’s longer than the team sheet. Manly aren’t getting any real go-forward, and it’s hard to watch.
The one shining light from the Albury road trip disaster was the promising debut of youngster Tom Trbojevic, whom Andrew Johns, a fairly astute judge of talent, thinks will one day represent Australia. Right now, Manly fans will settle for Trbojevic settling into this Manly squad and, one day, taking over the fullback mantle held currently by the Prince of Brookvale, Brett Stewart.
Recently, Trbojevic has dominated the national youth Toyota Cup ompetition, and is one half of the two-brother tandem that have us Manly fans salivating when considering the future. In many ways, Tom and big brother Jake Trbojevic seem like they’re the second coming of the Stewart brothers. Not only are they juniors, who bleed maroon and white and have shunned offers from other clubs – leave ‘em alone, Dessy Hasler! – because they only want to play for Manly (loyalty – wonderful!), but one is a flashy fullback and the other toils away in the pack.
Eighteen-year-old Trbojevic, measuring in at 192cm and 96kg, scored his first try at the top grade inside two minutes, and added another one later in the second half. It was a better debut than even the most ardent Sea Eagles fan could possibly have hoped for. Scoring tries against under-20’s opposition is one thing, and to be able to bring that scoring touch up to first grade is no small accomplishment. Granted, some of Canberra’s defence was shoddy, but Trbojevic will still be buoyed by his debut.
The ceiling for this kid is pretty high. As noted by the FOX broadcast, he looked dangerous whenever he had the football, standing out amongst the rest of the team, whose offensive ineptitude was on show for much of the eight minutes on Saturday night. Not so for Trbojevic, who ran for 190m on twenty three runs.
In a season that will likely see Manly not qualify for their eleventh successive finals series, a lot of interested eyes will be focused on Tom Trbojevic every time he’s in the starting line-up, and based on last night’s performance, it’ll be hard for Geoff Toovey to not give him another run.
Yes, Manly fans, there’s going to be some short-term pain in the coming few seasons as the team moves into a new generation without some of their biggest recent stars, but if Tom Trbojevic is a sign of things to come at Fortress Brookvale, I can’t wait!a
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