Manly coach Kieran Foran remains as determined as ever to ensure Tom Trbojevic never plays for another NRL club as the star fullback returns from his latest hamstring injury.
Trbojevic, who will run out against the Knights in Newcastle on Saturday afternoon, said sitting out the final three weeks of the season if he was fit enough to play had never been an option.
“I just want to play,” Trbojevic said.
Born and bred on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Trbojevic is one of a host of big names who will become free agents on November 1.
His rotten run with injuries has already prompted him to take the extraordinary step of asking the club to hand back some of his pay cheque.
His last contract extension, a $900,000 deal for one year, acknowledged both Trbojevic’s high standing in the game and his struggles to stay injury-free.
With injuries to both hamstrings having limited him to just 11 games so far this season, Trbojevic, 30, cringed when asked by this masthead when he planned to sit down to discuss a new deal.
“I have another year left, so there’s no rush,” Trbojevic said. “I love Manly, love the club, I want the club to do well, and I want to be successful here – it’s where I want to be.
“It’s frustrating. Injuries have become a big part of my story. I understand it, but it’s still disappointing.
“I just have to keep working hard in order to get back out there and enjoy myself. I still love the game and the boys.”
As with Latrell Mitchell at South Sydney after his own injury-riddled season, Trbojevic will still attract close to top dollar because of his ability to blow a game apart when fit – a quality not lost on Foran.
“Just having him back is enormous for the group because of the confidence he gives the guys around him,” coach Foran said.
“He’s such an elite player and leader. These are all things I’ve said before, but you know the footy team is in a better place when Tommy is playing.
“From our point of view, Tommy is such a world-class player, and he’s someone we’ll never want to lose – we know he brings so much to the group.
“Tommy wanted to finish the year strongly, even if we were out of finals contention, and playing for Manly and finishing the season with us was his priority. It was certainly our priority as well.”
The Sea Eagles head into the weekend four points adrift of the top eight, and will do well to get the job done against an in-form Newcastle.
Trbojevic pulled up tight in the hamstring against the Cowboys in round eight and returned in round 16, only to feel tightness in his other hamstring on the Gold Coast in round 20. Saturday’s match will be his first since July 19.
The look on his face as he came to the sidelines that afternoon was one of the sadder images of the season.
Brother and Manly co-captain Jake Trbojevic said this week about Tom’s run out of outs, which has seen him play 20 or more games just the once in the last eight seasons: “Sometimes I wish it was me who got injured instead of him, because he puts in 10 times more work than anyone else to get his body right, and he’s just been very unlucky.”
Trbojevic said he would sit down with Manly’s medical team and discuss a revamp of his training program and loads over the summer in the hope of being injury-free in 2027.
He had been pencilled in for a return against Melbourne a couple of weeks ago, only for the return flight to Perth discouraging the club. Then he said he was still not quite right for last week’s disappointing loss at home to the Dolphins.
“We’re in a tough spot at the moment, but we’ll fight our way out of it – that’s the Manly way,” he said.
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