2144superman
Kennel Legend
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Tom Trbojevic scored 94 in his Year 12 exams, is completing a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) degree at university and has just started work with a brokerage firm.
It's safe to say he knows a thing or two about the almighty dollar.
No doubt Des Hasler and Manly officials do not need reminding of this when they eventually get around to cobbling together a deal to try and keep their superstar No.1.
But this isn't another yarn about contracts and Turbo's future. All the talk has become boring. Even if it is about million-dollar-a-season deals.
We get that Tommy would love to stay put at his local club. It would be an even bigger dream come true if he could play forever on the northern beaches with his older brother Jake.
"As long as my next contract is worth more than Jake's I don't care what happens,'' Tommy quips. "I love getting one up on him.
"We want to be together, but we're in no rush. I've said it so many times; it's ridiculous the amount of stories that have been done on it.
"We haven't spoken to anyone. We haven't put the pen through any other club. We'll look at it at the end of the season. I just love playing footy. I'd play every day if I could."
At 22, it's frightening to think how good the man they call Turbo could be.
The eighth Immortal, Andrew Johns, kick-started a debate after a Friday night game when he pontificated on whether Trbojevic would be the player he would choose to build a team around. His mate and NSW coach Brad Fittler opted for James Tedesco.
When we bumped into Fittler at Parliament House this week, where he was dressed sharply in a suit and treated to morning tea to celebrate the Blues Origin win – a series Trbojevic played a huge part in – he said: "The key to building a successful team is finding someone to score you tries. And that's what Tommy does. I know I just needed him in my team. He finds ways to score tries."
It's not just Tommy's coaches, teammates and Immortals who have been impressed with his stellar form this year.
Wests Tigers superstar Benji Marshall travelled to Brookvale just last week, where Trbojevic and his Manly mates won by a lot, but could have won by so much more.
"I think he's in the top five players in the game right now,'' Marshall says of the Sea Eagles No.1. "Potentially, he could be the best player in the game. From what I've seen, he's still finding out how good he is.
"We all know what he can do with the ball, but defensively he's one of the best fullbacks, and when it comes to defusing kicks and chasing kicks, he's on another level."
Trbojevic is enough of a reason Manly fans will give their side a chance against Canberra on Sunday afternoon.
Had his hamstrings not given up on him during the trials and then again in round four, Manly could well have been locked into the top four by now, rather than scrapping to get in.
But how good can Tommy be? Seriously?
Better than James Tedesco? In many people's eyes, he's already better than Brett Stewart, Manly's greatest No.1 of the modern era.
Trbojevic is well known as one of the kindest and friendliest players in the game but, by his own admission, he's not a storyteller of note.
In fact, when we met this week at Eleven11, his mate's cafe in Warriewood, and Turbo tried to rattle of some funny yarns, he either buggered up the punchline or offered to send me the numbers of people who could tell it better.
"It was on the 12th hole. Jake's trying to get his ball, then Ben says to me, 'I'm going to kick him in, so make sure you film it'.
"Ben kicked him in, Jake blew up and the game was over. Jake was furious. He had to jump in the beach to wash off. He could see the funny side afterwards."
The four brothers still live under the same roof. Ben and Jake had to switch rooms recently because they forever clashed. They don't fight, but if there was, "I'd finish it", quips Jake.
Tom was destined for greatness from the moment he burst on to the scene five years ago, and even as a gangly teen he was impressive. So much so that Sea Eagles skipper Daly Cherry-Evans declared: "As long as I'm at Manly, I want Tom Trbojevic as my fullback."
Cherry-Evans won a premiership with the legendary Stewart, better known as "Snake" or "The Prince of Brookvale". Stewart has been brought back into the fold by Hasler this year.
Cherry-Evans says Snake and Turbo are different, but the same.
"Snake's ability to pop up with his support play was second to none," Cherry-Evans says. "The way Snake had those silky ball skills and was able to throw those one-handed passes and flick passes was special to watch and be a part of.
"With Tom, because he's physically so big, he can run through players, which is crazy. He's built as big as some back-rowers, but can run as fast as some of the quickest in the game.
"The one thing they do have in common is their competitive nature. They both hate losing. It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's at training, table tennis, they want to be the best at it. That's why Snake was so good, and Tom has that in him as well.
"I was in my first year of first grade at 22 and a bit loose with my preparation. Tom is leaps and bounds ahead of me at the same age – he leaves no stone unturned – and that's the reason he plays at an eight or nine out of 10 every week."
It hasn't all been smooth sailing for Tom, though. He was close with sacked Manly coach Trent Barrett – "From an attacking sense he knew so much about the game," he says – and last year was tough as Barrett's ugly power play with Manly's front office, the salary cap saga and the Jackson Hastings scandal dragged the club to within an inch of its first wooden spoon.
Rock bottom for Trbojevic came when Manly gave up 22 points in the final 12 minutes to lose at home to Penrith in round 20. He made an error that led to a Panthers try. To make matters worse, one of his dogs, Clifford, died that same night.
Then along came Hasler. The eccentric coach's enthusiasm was infectious. The first meeting with the brothers came in the car park at Narrabeen on day two of pre-season training. The boys were not due back for a few weeks because of their international commitments.
"We wound down the window and Dessie started talking about all these test results with the players and how good all the scores were and how excited he was," Trbojevic recalls. "We saw that excitement and Jake and I were both like, 'right, we're in, let's do it'.
"He's the mad scientist. I'd never say that to his face. I call him 'Desmond'. I've never been to his house. But you learn about his quirky ways. You can have some fun and a laugh with him.
"He keeps stats. He has these books, really massive books, and they're just filled with stats. We changed our defensive structures and he showed me all these stats on how I could improve. It's all relevant."
Hasler bristles whenever talk turns to the Trbojevics and their futures. He knows he can enjoy sustained success with DCE and the Trbojevic brothers, but at what cost to the rest of the club's salary cap?
Turbo is worth the lot. And he knows his numbers.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/one-in-a-million-why-it-s-all-adding-up-for-turbo-tom-20190823-p52k7h.html
It's safe to say he knows a thing or two about the almighty dollar.
No doubt Des Hasler and Manly officials do not need reminding of this when they eventually get around to cobbling together a deal to try and keep their superstar No.1.
But this isn't another yarn about contracts and Turbo's future. All the talk has become boring. Even if it is about million-dollar-a-season deals.
We get that Tommy would love to stay put at his local club. It would be an even bigger dream come true if he could play forever on the northern beaches with his older brother Jake.
"As long as my next contract is worth more than Jake's I don't care what happens,'' Tommy quips. "I love getting one up on him.
"We want to be together, but we're in no rush. I've said it so many times; it's ridiculous the amount of stories that have been done on it.
"We haven't spoken to anyone. We haven't put the pen through any other club. We'll look at it at the end of the season. I just love playing footy. I'd play every day if I could."
At 22, it's frightening to think how good the man they call Turbo could be.
The eighth Immortal, Andrew Johns, kick-started a debate after a Friday night game when he pontificated on whether Trbojevic would be the player he would choose to build a team around. His mate and NSW coach Brad Fittler opted for James Tedesco.
When we bumped into Fittler at Parliament House this week, where he was dressed sharply in a suit and treated to morning tea to celebrate the Blues Origin win – a series Trbojevic played a huge part in – he said: "The key to building a successful team is finding someone to score you tries. And that's what Tommy does. I know I just needed him in my team. He finds ways to score tries."
It's not just Tommy's coaches, teammates and Immortals who have been impressed with his stellar form this year.
Wests Tigers superstar Benji Marshall travelled to Brookvale just last week, where Trbojevic and his Manly mates won by a lot, but could have won by so much more.
"I think he's in the top five players in the game right now,'' Marshall says of the Sea Eagles No.1. "Potentially, he could be the best player in the game. From what I've seen, he's still finding out how good he is.
"We all know what he can do with the ball, but defensively he's one of the best fullbacks, and when it comes to defusing kicks and chasing kicks, he's on another level."
Trbojevic is enough of a reason Manly fans will give their side a chance against Canberra on Sunday afternoon.
Had his hamstrings not given up on him during the trials and then again in round four, Manly could well have been locked into the top four by now, rather than scrapping to get in.
But how good can Tommy be? Seriously?
Better than James Tedesco? In many people's eyes, he's already better than Brett Stewart, Manly's greatest No.1 of the modern era.
Trbojevic is well known as one of the kindest and friendliest players in the game but, by his own admission, he's not a storyteller of note.
In fact, when we met this week at Eleven11, his mate's cafe in Warriewood, and Turbo tried to rattle of some funny yarns, he either buggered up the punchline or offered to send me the numbers of people who could tell it better.
"It was on the 12th hole. Jake's trying to get his ball, then Ben says to me, 'I'm going to kick him in, so make sure you film it'.
"Ben kicked him in, Jake blew up and the game was over. Jake was furious. He had to jump in the beach to wash off. He could see the funny side afterwards."
The four brothers still live under the same roof. Ben and Jake had to switch rooms recently because they forever clashed. They don't fight, but if there was, "I'd finish it", quips Jake.
Tom was destined for greatness from the moment he burst on to the scene five years ago, and even as a gangly teen he was impressive. So much so that Sea Eagles skipper Daly Cherry-Evans declared: "As long as I'm at Manly, I want Tom Trbojevic as my fullback."
Cherry-Evans won a premiership with the legendary Stewart, better known as "Snake" or "The Prince of Brookvale". Stewart has been brought back into the fold by Hasler this year.
Cherry-Evans says Snake and Turbo are different, but the same.
"Snake's ability to pop up with his support play was second to none," Cherry-Evans says. "The way Snake had those silky ball skills and was able to throw those one-handed passes and flick passes was special to watch and be a part of.
"With Tom, because he's physically so big, he can run through players, which is crazy. He's built as big as some back-rowers, but can run as fast as some of the quickest in the game.
"The one thing they do have in common is their competitive nature. They both hate losing. It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's at training, table tennis, they want to be the best at it. That's why Snake was so good, and Tom has that in him as well.
"I was in my first year of first grade at 22 and a bit loose with my preparation. Tom is leaps and bounds ahead of me at the same age – he leaves no stone unturned – and that's the reason he plays at an eight or nine out of 10 every week."
It hasn't all been smooth sailing for Tom, though. He was close with sacked Manly coach Trent Barrett – "From an attacking sense he knew so much about the game," he says – and last year was tough as Barrett's ugly power play with Manly's front office, the salary cap saga and the Jackson Hastings scandal dragged the club to within an inch of its first wooden spoon.
Rock bottom for Trbojevic came when Manly gave up 22 points in the final 12 minutes to lose at home to Penrith in round 20. He made an error that led to a Panthers try. To make matters worse, one of his dogs, Clifford, died that same night.
Then along came Hasler. The eccentric coach's enthusiasm was infectious. The first meeting with the brothers came in the car park at Narrabeen on day two of pre-season training. The boys were not due back for a few weeks because of their international commitments.
"We wound down the window and Dessie started talking about all these test results with the players and how good all the scores were and how excited he was," Trbojevic recalls. "We saw that excitement and Jake and I were both like, 'right, we're in, let's do it'.
"He's the mad scientist. I'd never say that to his face. I call him 'Desmond'. I've never been to his house. But you learn about his quirky ways. You can have some fun and a laugh with him.
"He keeps stats. He has these books, really massive books, and they're just filled with stats. We changed our defensive structures and he showed me all these stats on how I could improve. It's all relevant."
Hasler bristles whenever talk turns to the Trbojevics and their futures. He knows he can enjoy sustained success with DCE and the Trbojevic brothers, but at what cost to the rest of the club's salary cap?
Turbo is worth the lot. And he knows his numbers.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/one-in-a-million-why-it-s-all-adding-up-for-turbo-tom-20190823-p52k7h.html
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