Full-back Tom Trbojevic believes Manly playing the ‘benchmarks’ of the Telstra Premiership in their last two home games will only be beneficial to the side.
The Sea Eagles have fallen to premiers Nth Qld Cowboys (34-18) and grand finalists Brisbane Broncos (30-6) over the past fortnight and now face another strong test in the in-form Cronulla Sharks away this Saturday night.
A heavy injury toll has also not helped the Sea Eagles’ cause.
“They are the benchmarks of the comp, the Cowboys and the Broncos. It has been tough for us, but we have underperformed. We haven’t put in a performance in on the field that is going to get a result for us,’’ Trbojevic said today.
“It is something that will be good for us because we know where the benchmark is now and we know how good we need to be.
“We can take that and try and put it into our game and keep improving. It can really help us.
“The margin against the Broncos wasn’t a fair explanation of the game. We were in that game for most of it and they just pulled away with it in the second half.
“They are a great side and they were able to do that. I guess it was a little bit surprising (the margin).”
Whilst acknowledging a heavy injury toll to some key men has not helped the team’s cause, Trbojevic said it was no excuse.
“Everyone is putting the effort in at training, and on the field. I think we are just finding it hard to gel together. The more time we play together it will start to build and build,’’ he said.
“We don’t really want to be sitting in 12th. We want to be in that top eight and fighting for a finals spot. We need to perform on the field and we are not doing that at the moment.”
