AAP: TOM Trbojevic is set to undergo scans on his left knee, with Manly’s medical staff fearing he has torn the medial ligament and needs a stint on the sideline.
Manly fear they will be without Tom Trbojevic for more than a month as they wait nervously for scans on their superstar fullback’s left knee.
In his first game back from hamstring tightness, the Sea Eagles suspect Trbojevic tore his medial ligament in Sunday’s 26-12 win over Parramatta.
Already wearing strapping on his left knee after a collision in training on Saturday, Trbojevic battled for around 15 minutes before failing to return from halftime.
Replays appeared to show the fullback’s leg become trapped under a tackle in the first half, before he sought assistance from trainers soon afterwards.
He then spent an entire set having strapping applied to his right knee, before struggling with any changes of direction and not returning after the break.
The 28-year-old left Brookvale in a knee brace after fulltime, and was set to have scans on Monday.
“Obviously it needs scans, but it looks like it’s an MCL,” Manly coach Anthony Seibold said.
“Normally those types of injuries are around about five or six weeks. But I don’t want to pre-empt anything.”
Lehi Hopoate’s emergence as a bona fide fullback means Manly can still pose a legitimate threat without their regular No.1, albeit while still somewhat impacted.
Clayton Faulalo will likely come onto the wing for the Sea Eagles, with Tommy Talau still at least two weeks away from returning from his hamstring injury.
But still Trbojevic’s injury comes as a serious blow to the Sea Eagles, who have Melbourne, Cronulla and Penrith in the next month.
Manly’s record with Trbojevic in their side goes from 38 wins in 58 matches with him since the start of 2021, compared with 16 victories in 47 games without him.
“Obviously he’s very disappointed. I’m really disappointed,” Seibold said.
“His preparation, he’s so diligent. I think anyone who knows Turbo, he puts in so much time.
“In some ways, life’s not fair because you can understand if he wasn’t doing the work and doing all his reconditioning and his injury prevention and so on.”