The Manly Sea Eagles have confirmed Tom Trbojevic will miss at least four weeks of rugby league after suffering an MCL injury against the Parramatta Eels on Sunday afternoon.
Coming during a Manly win, Trbojevic suffered the injury during the first half and was then substituted out of the game during the break.
The club have now confirmed scans revealed minor MCL damage leading to a four-week recovery.
That is down on the original estimate provided by coach Anthony Seibold, who said it could be a six-week recovery.
โHe obviously needs scans, but it looks like it's an MCL. Again, we will get scans tomorrow, but coming from the medical meeting then, those type of injuries are about five or six weeks,โ Seibold said during his post-match press conference.
โAgain, I don't want to pre-empt anything or put a timeline on anything because we need to get it diagnosed and understand that's what it is.
โWe will come up with a plan, but obviously he is very disappointed and I mean, we were really disappointed to lose him there at halftime.โ
Trbojevic seemed to suffer the injury midway through the first half before trying to stay on the field, but Seibold said an attempted change of direction following a line break made by Ethan Bullemor.
Seibold revealed it was Trbojevic's decision to stay on the field initially.
โHe wanted to try and run it out. Obviously I'm up in the box, so the player directs the physio. Sometimes the medical staff will say โno you have to come off' for the safety of the players, but Turbo thought he could run it out," Seibold said.
"You could see he freed up, I think [Ethan] Bullemor made a linebreak and Turbo was able to change his pace. That was straightline, but as soon as he had to change direction, that's when he said he would get through to halftime and then come off,โ Seibold said.
โWe got that message, knew we were going to have to make a change and I thought the guys adapted really well. Benny went to right centre, Reuben to left wing and Hopa to fullback and so we got on with it.โ
Seibold also confirmed there were no concerns around Trbojevic's other knee which was strapped heading into the game.
The Sea Eagles tackle the Melbourne Storm, Cronulla Sharks, St George Illawarra Dragons, Penrith Panthers and Cronulla Sharks over the period they expect to be without Trbojevic.
