Manly Sea Eagles captain Tom Trbojevic suffers hamstring injury against Gold Coast Titans
Tom Trbojevic succumbed to a hamstring injury once again as Manly suffered their third straight defeat against the Gold Coast.
Trbojevic appeared dejected at the CBus Super Stadium on Sunday afternoon; The saddest sight in rugby league was repeated once again when he went down with what the club hoped was just a low-grade hamstring strain.
The Manly captain fell to the ground and immediately walked off the pitch, running his hands through his hair in frustration when his right hamstring ached in the 21st minute.
Trbojevic was sidelined for two months with a hamstring tear in his left leg earlier this year, the ninth recorded hamstring injury since 2018 (four injuries to his left leg and five to his right).
Manly won five of seven games without Trbojevic earlier this year and their 71 per cent strike rate was a significant improvement on a winning percentage of just 35 without their full-back before this season.
But with Luke Brooks (ACL) out for the year and Clayton Faulalo rehabbing a hamstring issue, the Sea Eagles’ decline after their fourth defeat in their last five games is all too real.
Especially considering 16th-placed Gold Coast ran riot with Trbojevic’s exit from the competition.
Manly remain ninth in the table but could fall behind Canterbury next week given they host the Sharks in seven days. And the Titans took the measure of Manly from midway through the first half, as Trbojevic scored the game’s opening try after just 110 seconds and made the final pass for Jason Saab to head home four minutes later.
Young hooker Oliver Pascoe’s double put up some pretty soft defending from Manly’s cross, while Queensland Origin flyer Jojo Fifita managed to deny Josh Feledy at the other end.
A minute later Fifita was in prime position to collect Josh Patston’s superb strike and his own four-pointer.
The home side had scored three tries in 12 minutes when AJ Brimson beat the stalling Saab to a ruck as half-time approached.
Haumole Olakau’atu’s 55th-minute walk for Gold Coast restored a 28-14 lead that had held since the break.
But after referee Adam Gee blasted the penalty for Manly setting up a “wall” to protect makeshift full-back Lehi Hopoate under the high ball, Beau Fermor strode through a tremendous gap and gave him a no-handed goal.
Reuben Garrick made things interesting once again by scoring from a spilled Keano Kini bomb, despite what was suggested in replays and Titans captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui protested that Garrick was offside in his follow-up.
A hip-drop tackle on Tolu Koula then dropped Dean Ieremia into the sin bin, but a minute later it was 12 v 12 when Feledy joined him for a cynical foul after a long break from Brimson.
Fifita’s second try sealed the defeat that Manly’s shoddy defending and sometimes half-hearted attack deserved; Koula’s four-point shot in the final minute came too late to make the difference.
Dan Walsh is sports correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect with: X or email.
