Manly fans (and honestly, all footy fans) are going to love this one: Tom Trbojevic is confident he’s thrown off any lingering effects from his long injury layoff and says he’s playing “without fear” again.
The 26-year-old superstar, arguably the jewel in Manly’s modern crown, has struggled with rugby league injuries for much of his early 20s and has suffered several agonising stints on the sideline. Most recently, the Sea Eagles fullback made it round 11 in 2022 before a dislocated shoulder ended his campaign just as it was getting rolling.
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While it stung Manly fans the most, every footy fan has hated seeing him unable to play.
Thankfully, the star NRL fullback has shared some good news on that front ahead of round three: that dark injury cloud seems to have finally been dispelled.
That’s right: Trbojevic is finally playing with no fear again.
“I felt really good out there,” he said of game one against the Bulldogs where his Sea Eagles ran out 31-6 victors. “I get where people are coming from [worrying] but I’m just really excited to be back playing footy and I love being back out there.”
“The work I’ve been doing during the week has given me a lot of confidence, heading into the games I’m prepping really well, so I’ll keep going with that program. It’s all given me a lot of confidence. I just want to make the best decisions to be the best rugby league athlete [I] can. [I] have an approach to follow to get in the best place to play.”
He conceded there is still “a lot of work to do” but at this stage that mainly comes in the form of drills, formations, and squad strategy under new coach Anthony Seibold, not injury recovery.
Next up for rejuvenated Turbo and the Sea Eagles, the rough-starter Eels.
Parramatta has failed to win either of their opening two games so far, losing by four points in two of the best games of the early season against Melbourne and Cronulla. Those defeats, and the Eels’ performance last year, have put Trbojevic on guard.
“They’ll be firing and ready to go [after those two loses],” he said. “It’s going to be a big game, [I’m] really excited for it. They were grand finalists last year so it’s going to be a big test for us, but we’re keen to get going.”
There’s one goal for Manly, he added: “We’ll hold onto that round-one win, lead it into the next game.”
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