We can’t rely on Tom
MANLY must stop relying on the brilliance of Tom Trbojevic if they are to rebound from this year’s preliminary final exit and seriously challenge for next year’s title.
That’s the opinion of veteran five-eighth Kieran Foran, who conceded the Sea Eagles have too often been bailed out by their superstar fullback.
Trbojevic produced one of the best individual seasons in recent memory this year, scoring 28 tries, tallying 28 try assists, 36 line break assists and 33 linebreaks.
But his historic run into September was eventually brought undone by South Sydney, extending Manly’s record against top four opposition to a telling 0-7.
Their reliance on Trbojevic prompted Foran to admit the team will need to come up with other ways to grind their way to victory.
“I think he has had an incredible year and we have become pretty accustomed to him bailing us out of trouble in a lot of games,” Foran said after losing Friday night’s preliminary final 36-16 to the Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium.
“That will be something we’ll look at heading into next year – you can’t be so reliant on one player to pull you out of trouble every week.
“In saying that, there have been some really great performers throughout the year that have stood up and grown as well. It’s a collective learning in terms of where we want to get to as a footy side.”
Hasler’s other big challenge in the pre-season will be to work on his side’s ability to find consistency in their performances.
Foran said the gap between Manly’s good and bad performances was still too wide.
That was a weakness brought to the fore against South Sydney.
“We tend to be either really good or quite off and that will be the work heading into next year,” Foran said.
“They started with a bit more venom than what we had and we were on the back foot for most of that first half. That’s a learning for us, not compounding errors when they are in a (good) position.
“We’ve been good in patches and had the occasional bad game.
“That was one tonight.”