Not that anyone thought he would, but Tom Trbojevic showed no signs of slowing down from his brilliant 2021 season in a 40-minute cameo at Leichhardt Oval on Friday night.
Manly cruised to a 28-4 win over the Wests Tigers in what was the second of a double header, Canberra beating the Roosters earlier on.
It only took a couple of minutes for Trbojevic to set up a try for Brad Parker, but it was his work just before the interval that reminded viewers of just what he’s capable of.
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In the final minute of the half, Trbojevic was on the end of an inside ball from his skipper Daly Cherry-Evans and zipped past a couple before finding his brother Ben in support.
The youngest brother, who made four appearances in his debut season last year, then gave it on to Christian Tuipulotu to touchdown in the corner and score on his 21st birthday.
It was something out of absolutely thin air, but a timely reminder of how dangerous the reigning Dally M medallist can be.
He watched his sibling play from the sideline in street clothes, as did most of the established first graders who started the match.
Cherry-Evans said that they’d gotten lucky to have the wind behind them in the first 40, given they were only ever going to play one half of football.
The skipper banged a superb 40/20 which led to a try, and kicked well throughout.
It was left to the lesser-known Sea Eagles to steer the ship home, including Ray Veaga, who scored a hat trick after the interval.
“This [second] half is full of a lot of train and triallists and a lot of people who have played a lot of reserve great – but it’s great to see them here tonight showing that they can put forward for the NRL this season,” Cherry-Evans said afterwards.
“It’s been pretty well-documented that COVID could interrupt at any moment, so we are going to have to make sure our squads are prepared.”
Kaeo Weekes, Gordon Chan Kum Tong, Jamie Humphreys and plenty of other young guns were on fire in the second half – although sadly, we didn’t get to see Tolu Koula, the winger clocked with a 10.58 100m time, in full flight.
“It was solid, wasn’t it? The main thing was that we got through unscathed,” coach Des Hasler said afterwards.
“It was only a trial, but it was the way they went about it – I thought they played really controlled footy and for a lot of them, it’s been a long time between games so they were just pleased to be out there,” he said of his second half performers.
The Sea Eagles will finish their pre-season with a game against the Raiders in Gosford next Friday.
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