Turbo’s roaming effort leaves Origin greats in awe

For two months we’ve watched Tom Trbojevic turn Manly from cellar dwellers into premiership contenders but only now did we realise how much NSW missed him in last year’s State of Origin series. 

Trbojevic’s freakish efforts in Wednesday night’s record-breaking 50-6 win started from the opening set of the match when he took two runs to get the Blues on the front foot.

Advantage Turbo early, and from there, it was the Trbojevic show.

For a player who made a welcome return to the Origin arena after missing last year’s series through injury, Trbojevic’s efforts left many in awe of his man-of-the-match performance at Queensland Country Bank Stadium. 

Trbojevic created his own position on Wednesday night, according to many former NSW and Queensland greats, with Cameron Smith marvelling at his efforts post-match. 

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Turbo Tom is Queensland’s nightmare fuel

“At no stage did he play in the centres tonight,” former Maroons skipper Cameron Smith said on Channel Nine.

Whether it was a plan to have Trbojevic roaming around the paddock on his way to 19 carries and three carries, the Maroons clearly had no answers for it.

“There’s stuff he has to do for the team,” NSW coach Brad Fittler said.

“Once we started to get on top you could see we were finishing our sets well and we were putting them under pressure with where they were getting the ball back and it brings that sort of play, it allows players to do that, to roam a little bit and he just took advantage.

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Tommy Turbo finds space on the edge for the first try

“That’s the biggest thing, we talk about stuff you have to do for the team and he’s just a really good decision-maker at the moment.

“He’s doing it for Manly obviously. There was a few of them doing that, there were a few blokes out there all in sync.”

NSW halfback Nathan Cleary offered a similar view, amazed at Trbojevic’s ability to dominate the game from all over the park.

“I just kind of see him pop up and let him do his thing,” Cleary said.

“He is a freak of the footy player, has a really good feel for the game. Ended up left back-row a couple of times. Just knows where to go to get the ball.”

The man himself gave few insights into his efforts post-match.

“I think we started the game really well,” Trbojevic said.

“To put it on in the second half was pretty special. It was a quick game. it kind of suited me. I went roaming. I try to support and do my best. 

“It’s always nice to finish like that. I’m glad I’m back. We’ll enjoy this and move onto the next game.”

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Turbo Tom at it again as he kicks for Mitchell

Trbojevic’s ability to set up a try for Latrell Mitchell’s first try was more of a traditional fullback play and put the Maroons’ chances of a second-half comeback out of reach.

Trbojevic then finished off a line break from Jarome Luai in a typical fullback support play, before finishing off a piece of James Tedesco brilliance to grab a treble.

“To watch him put the left foot drubber kick in for Latrell to score a try, you just don’t see that much,” Fittler said.

“It brought me a lot of joy.”

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Maroons v Blues

Eighth immortal Andrew Johns said it was “frightening” how far Trbojevic’s career would go after his latest heroics at the Origin level.

“We know the injury drama he’s had with his hamstring but this year he’s just gone to a whole new level,” he said.

“Perth a couple of years ago he scored three tries and two of them are off Tedesco. Have a look tonight, you’ve got two of the best players in the world, two of the best fullbacks in the world playing together and Tom has been everywhere.

“Where he could get in the game, if he stays injury-free, is frightening. He has just been on another planet tonight.”

Origin II in Brisbane is sold out but tickets are still on sale for game three at Stadium Australia in Sydney on July 14 – get your tickets at NRL.com/tickets.