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Trbojevic, Cherry-Evans hurt as Manly lose to Warriors
Scott Bailey, AAP • March 14th, 2025 10:23 pm
Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Manly's hot start to the season has come crashing back down to earth, with Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans both injured in a 36-16 loss to the Warriors.
On a horror Friday night for the Sea Eagles in Auckland, both of their two main men failed to finish a game where their attack never really clicked into gear.
Trbojevic first left the field and went straight for the dressing room with around 15 minutes to play. The Sea Eagles could not confirm the nature of his issue.
Then with the game slipping away, Cherry-Evans fell to his knees at marker and grabbed for the right hand side of his lower back, before also limping from the field.
Manly had started the season as one of the real threats to the NRL's top teams, but they desperately need their star duo if they are to make any impact on the league.
Trbojevic had only spoken in the past week about the way he had benefited from an injury-free run, while Cherry-Evans is weighing up his future beyond this year.
Even before the pair's injuries Manly had been well off their game, with Luke Metcalf helping lay on three tries and scoring one of his own.
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Manly looked as if they were going to carry on from their opening-round flogging of North Queensland, when Trbojevic finished off a long-range try in the fifth minute.
But the Sea Eagles again showed consistency and form away from home is their achilles heal, appearing a completely different side from that point on.
All three of the Warriors' first-half tries came off the back of Manly errors, while almost 80 per cent of the ball was played in the Warriors' attacking half.
That allowed Metcalf to put on a show, a fortnight after he was heavily scrutinised for his first outing in the Warriors' No.7 jersey since Shaun Johnson's retirement.
The halfback laid on a perfect short ball for one Ali Leiataua try, while he and Chanel Harris-Tavita combined for another before halftime.
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He also threw the last pass for a Taine Tuaupiki four-pointer, allowing the winger to cut back inside and step through Manly's broken defensive line.
And while Manly twice got back within eight in the second half through two controversial tries, a comeback always looked a bridge too far.
Ultimately the Sea Eagles' fate was sealed when Roger Tuivasa-Sheck capped an impressive night by forcing his way over, before Metcalf got one of his own late.
Soundly beaten by Canberra in Las Vegas and the great disappointment of last season, the Warriors showed on Friday night there is still life in them after Johnson.
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