Tom Trbojevic would be facing a paycut of about $400,000 to stay with Manly, a leading reporter says — yet may baulk at a $700,000 deal not because it’s less money, but because it could still be a burden to his beloved club.
CODE Sports reporter Dave Riccio said that Trbojevic’s agent would sit down with Manly officials in the next couple of weeks in an attempt to map out the way forward. The star, 28, is again sidelined by injury currently.
“He’s so significant on the Northern Beaches for that football club and he does not want to leave. He just doesn’t want to play for any other NRL clubs,” Riccio said on NRL 360. “So that’s where the English Super League option has become the other option.”
NRL 360 host Braith Anasta said it was understood that Trbojevic was on $1.1 million per season, on a contract expiring at the end of next year. Riccio said that to stay at Manly, the necessary paycut would be “significant” due to his frail body.
“And I’m saying that respectfully — because of the game’s he’s playing. I think he comes down to that $700,000 mark,” Riccio said, before questioning whether Trbojevic would even want to stick around on a still-hefty salary if he was a depleted force.
“Is Tom really going to just hang around, put the burden on the club at 700? There will have to be tough conversations in and around his physical capabilities and his body. There has to be. You can’t re-sign him if there’s concerns.
“And in order to keep Lehi Hopoate at fullback, there’s going to need to be a positional change.”
Anasta said that Trbojevic’s injury layoffs had been an unavoidable problem for some time and Manly had to factor in the retention of young stars like Hopoate.
“The problem is that since he won the Dally M Medal, and even that year, he hasn’t looked 100 per cent healthy at all, at any time,” Anasta said.
“Even when he plays, he looks like he’s playing injured. It’s hard to watch and I can only imagine what he’s going through himself, and I feel for him.
“It is a business still. They’ve got to protect their own salary cap, they’ve got a lot of young guns coming through.”
Co-host Gorden Tallis added: “Lehi Hopoate showed the other night that he’s ready to take over the No.1 jersey but you don’t want to lose Tom.”
Manly coach Anthony Seibold said on Wednesday that he did not want Trbojevic to leave, nor his brother Jake.
“I wouldn’t want Turbo to go over and play in the Super League, that’s for sure,” he said.
“He is an elite player and one of the best in the game… Turbo wants to play footy and while I am coach at the club I want to have him part of the playing group.
“I think even post footy as well, we want to keep the Trbojevics around the club in some capacity once they are finished playing in a few years time.”
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