Manly Warringah Sea Eagles full-back Tom Trbojevic is a certain starter for Friday night’s showdown with the Melbourne Storm at 4 Pines Park.
Coach Anthony Seibold told media today that Trbojevic had trained well this week after suffering back spasms in the loss to Penrith last week, leading to speculation he was injured.
“Tom has had a hip pointer injury. He had a needle (at half-time against Penrith) and it stirred up his back a little bit, so he was uncomfortable during the game,’’ Seibold said.
“He trained fully on Tuesday evening. He is fit to go.
“Everything with Tom gets magnified. As soon as somebody sees him getting strapping, getting a rub, or whatever it is in the change room, it becomes big news but that’s because he is one of the elite players in the game.
“He had a bang on his hip a week or two ago. It’s not uncommon as most players get a hip pointer injury at some stage. A needle numbs the pain but he just had a little back of back spasms which made him feel uncomfortable and you probably could see that he wasn’t moving great.
“He moved outstanding on Tuesday evening and trained fully. Like I said, everything gets magnified for Tom.
“I feel sorry for him in a way because every week he has got to read about an injury. There’s that constant dialogue is he fit or not. I don’t think that’s good for him.
“We want to celebrate that he is playing. What a match up. (Cameron) Munster has been named at full-back for the Storm, so two of the really elite players in the number one jersey playing on Friday night."
However, the Sea Eagles have lost Josh Schuster for the Storm match after failing to recover from a quad injury that has seen him miss the last two weeks.
“We named Josh in 22 (on Tuesday) to see if he is available but the medical staff have said the Wests Tigers game,’’ Coach Anthony Seibold said.
“We have got a long term around after this week. They feel he needs to do some reconditioning, so that’s the advice from them. We will be 1-17.”
