Tom Trbojevic season looks to be over as Manly star told he needs shoulder surgery

Michael Holland
State of Origin

Manly Sea Eagles star Tom Trbojevic has been told he needs surgery on his damaged shoulder and will not play again this season, reports have claimed.

Trbojevic damaged his shoulder in the defeat against Parramatta on Friday night. He was sent for scans on Saturday and has been told that surgery is needed to fix the issue. The Daily Telegraph have reported that the surgery will put an end to his season.

Manly have yet to make an official announcement. However the paper says they reached out the player but he was “not up to talking right now” as the news sinks in.

Cruel blow for Trbo

Sea Eagles coach Des Hasler has also been quoted by Newscorp as saying: “Tommy gives so much to the game. This is a cruel blow but we know he will bounce back.”

The news comes as a huge blow to Trbojevic. He has had to deal with a host of injuries and this one will hit hard. It comes after he had just returned from a knee injury that hampered the start of his season.

He was just starting to show signs of getting back to his best, so the injury is a cruel blow.

It is also on the eve of State of Origin which gets underway on 8th June. New South Wales coach Brad Fittler knew on Friday night that Trbojevic would miss out even if surgery was not needed.

Tom Trbojevic is a huge loss

The injury also leaves the Sea Eagles with a huge mountain to climb. They are not the same team without their influential star. As things stand they sit ninth on the ladder with five wins for the season. Making the eight could be an achievement in itself, never mind a title challenge.

NRL legend Cooper Cronk now fears for Manly and where their season is heading. Cronk was speaking on Fox League as the news broke.

“That’s devastating from Tom’s perspective, Manly and just football in general,” Cronk said. “The guy is an absolute star of the comp. What he has done when the Sea Eagles play, they go from an OK team to being a top-four team. That is shocking news.

“They are in trouble now Manly. In terms of fighting for a premiership, it is going to be very hard.”