LEAGUE EXPERTS SPEECHLESS AT TURBO’S LATEST BRILLIANCE
THE Sea Eagles have sealed a top-four finish with a 46-18 win over a brave Cowboys side, Tom Trbojevic stamping his case for the Dally M Medal with a freak hat-trick.
Given he is one of the favourites for the prestigious award, it was little surprise Manly left it to Trbojevic to seal its top-four spot.
The game was evenly poised at 6-all two minutes before halftime when Trbojevic turned the match on its head by setting up a try for his brother Jake, before scoring one himself to make it 18-6 at the break.
Trbojevic saved his best for last, scoring the individual try of the season before finishing off the team try of the season to seal his hat-trick at the back end of the game.
The freakish fullback finished off a 110m stunner started by Reuben Garrick in his own in-goal to have the commentators in raptures right on fulltime.
“Daly Cherry-Evans kicks in-field and look who is there – Tom Trbojevic,” Andrew Voss roared.
“My goodness that is from another universe. Rugby league is not played like that by mortals.
“That is something that has come from out of this world.”
Trbojevic finished with 246 run metres, 14 tackle busts, four linebreaks, two linebreak assists, two try assists and a hat-trick in another superb outing to put him in the box seat for the Dally M Medal.
The Cowboys have had a horror season to finish secondlast with just seven wins, but they saved arguably their best until last against the high-flying Sea Eagles, before they crumbled in the last 10 minutes.
However, the 46-18 scoreline was unfair on the Cowboys, who were right in the contest down 24-18 deep into the second half.