This was published 7 years ago
Manly Sea Eagles star Tom Trbojevic settling in as Brett Stewart's heir to the fullback throne
By Matt Bungard
After the sidelining of legendary fullback Brett Stewart in 2016, 20-year-old Tom Trbojevic is relishing the chance to shine as the club's new fulltime custodian.
"To wear this number one jersey, it's very special for this club," he said, after grabbing his 21st try in the NRL for the Sea Eagles as they crushed the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon.
"The fullbacks we've had here have been probably the best in the game and Brett Stewart, he's probably leading it. He's been awesome for this club and I learned a lot from him, playing with him in the last few years. That's really helped me a lot."
With Stewart's career seemingly over, the expectations lumped on Trbojevic's shoulders may have been too much for many young players - but where others may have wilted, he's started to shine.
Runaway success: Tom Trbojevic.Credit: Matt King
"To get the first few games out of the way and just learn how players play around you ... it's been good for me and I'm learning a lot every week."
Trbojevic combined with skipper Daly Cherry-Evans for a try right on half time, and he is still baffled as to how his halfback managed to toe an accurate grubber kick through while running at full speed.
"I didn't really expect the ball when he kicked it back to me, I don't know how he did it, to be honest. He was monumental for us today."
The younger of Manly's Trbojevic brothers notched up more than 200 run metres, split the line twice, and produced a try-saving tackle late in the first half to keep the Bulldogs scoreless.
"One thing Baz [coach Trent Barrett] said at half time was 'keep them to zero', and we did. We build our game on our defence and pride ourselves on our defence. It was just awesome."