The star fullback tweaked his hamstring in the 30-24 loss to the Dolphins on Thursday night.
Supporters of the Sea Eagles and Blues will have to wait anxiously to find out how serious Tom Trbojevic’s hamstring injury is after Manly’s 30–24 loss to the Dolphins on Thursday night. Wayne Bennett’s team defeated the Sea Eagles for the second time in a row at Suncorp Stadium in rainy conditions. The game was made even worse when Trbojevic hobbled off the field in the 68th minute.
As he attempted to prevent Jack Bostock from scoring what ultimately proved to be the game-winning score, the star fullback sustained a hamstring injury. Trbojevic sprinted across the pitch to try to tackle the Dolphins winger in a frantic attempt to stop him from scoring, but the extra effort seemed to aggravate his hamstring before he quickly crashed with the cameraman.
Following the game, Manly coach Anthony Seibold said that the number one had strained his hamstring once more, making it at least the fifth time in his career. Due to his injury, Trobjevic is unlikely to play in the first game of the Blues State of Origin series, which begins next month.
Trojevic is thought to have had a grade 2 hamstring strain, which typically requires four to six weeks off. His recuperation might take longer, though, given his history of hamstring problems.
The nature of the injury and when he will recover will be determined by scans on Friday, but it seems anticipated that he will miss at least the first game of the Origin series in Sydney on June 5. For the 27-year-old, who has long struggled to finish an NRL season or a full State of Origin series, it is a serious blow. Trbojevic’s shoulder dislocation in 2022 prevented him from competing in Origin. Additionally, he ruptured his pectoral during Game II of Origin last year, which ended his season.
Trbojevic sustained a hamstring injury after first being out due to an ankle ailment. However, he was allowed to resume play following treatment from the Manly trainers. The fact that winger Jason Saab left the pitch in the sixteenth minute due to a shoulder injury and did not return compounded Manly’s injury problems.
“Jason needs a scan but they are telling me it is a grade three,” Seibold stated. “Those two guys, Trbojevic and Saab, were gone for a while.”
For the first thirty minutes of the game, the Sea Eagles were clearly in the lead. However, the Dolphins scored three points in a span of five minutes to close the gap and take a slim lead into halftime. Early in the second half, Manly were able to take the lead again thanks to a combination between the Trbojevic twins, Jake and Tom, near the line, which culminated in the fullback scoring his first try of the game.
Subsequently, the Dolphins equalised through a penalty kick, and with barely fifteen minutes remaining, Bostock scored the game-winning goal. Without Trbojevic and down on the scoreboard, the Sea Eagles were unable to pose much of a danger to the Dolphins in the final minutes, ultimately losing by a score of six points.
This season, the Sea Eagles have now dropped three games after building sizable leads early on, which is a worrying pattern. Earlier in the season, Manly defeated Parramatta 14-0 despite leading at the half. Additionally, they had a dominant 20-0 lead over Canberra last week before suffering one of the worst collapses ever, losing 26-24 at home.
The Sea Eagles were leading the Dolphins 16–4 on Thursday when they lost three tries and the game due to a five-minute lapse before halftime. Daly Cherry-Evans, the captain of the team, stated following the game that it is a persistent issue that has to be addressed.
“We are in here talking about the same trend again so it is something we need to fix and something that all of us can help each other with,” Daly Cherry-Evans, the captain, said. To get the desired outcome, a few things must alter. We are able to correct it. All we need to do is put in more effort.”
