The theory that Tom Trbojevic would be less injury prone at five-eighth has been by well-known sports physiotherapist Brien Sweeney.
Sweeney, who is known as The NRL Physio on social media channels, and has been providing NRL fans updates on players for years through his channels, took to SEN Radio on Sunday to reveal Trbojevic will only be more likely to cop other injuries should he make a much talked about move to five-eighth.
The move has been floated after the departure of Daly Cherry-Evans was confirmed at the end of 2025.
With the veteran halfback moving on, and there being no guarantee that youngster Joey Walsh will be ready for the rigours of first-grade, the move floated would see Luke Brooks move back to halfback - a role he held at the Wests Tigers without success for a decade, to be joined by Trbojevic at five-eighth.
Sweeney admitted Trbojevic would be less likely to have hamstring injuries with less running, but said more tackling could lead to contact issues, and that other soft tissue injuries would become a risk, with Trbojevic having a history of multiple injuries away from his hamstrings.
โI'd say overall his injury risk probably stays about the same globally,โ Sweeney revealed on SEN Radio.
โAt fullback you've got more running metresโฆ so you're thinking more like hamstring once again.
โ(Moving to five-eighth) does increase that soft tissue strain riskโฆ while you can argue that there is a slightly diminished risk of a hamstring injury, it just brings with it other injury risks.
โHe's all of a sudden got to make anywhere from 20 to 40 tackles in a game which he wasn't doing before so contact injuries increase.
โHe's got a history of shoulder reconstructions, pec rupturesโฆ MCL injuries which he's currently out for as well so all those contact kind of injuries (increase) whenever you're involved in more collisions."
Trbojevic has also been trialled at centre, but it's believed coach Anthony Seibold has no intention of leaving him there long-term.
Either way, the chance of the long-term number one playing fullback next year is diminishing, with Manly now viewing Lehi Hopoate as their fullback moving forward.
Jamal Fogarty and Adam Reynolds have been named as the key targets for Manly in the halfback replacement stakes, but whether they can land either target remains to be seen.
Reynolds isn't committed to playing next year and could well stay in Brisbane, while Jamal Fogarty is in negotiations with the Canberra Raiders over what his future looks like.
Manly will have no salary cap issues in attempting to sign either of the duo given Cherry-Evans is on more than a million dollars per season, but how Seibold aims to shake his squad up following Cherry-Evans' departure also remains to be seen.
