Jake and Tom Trbojevic are two of the biggest names in the game but loyalty lies deep within the pair who have expressed ambition to sign on at Manly.
The Sea Eagles are in a nice position heading into the finals and bounced back against the Wests Tigers following a loss to the Warriors. With their top four ambition still very much a reality, the brothers are committed to focusing all energy on the finals push rather than contract talks with other clubs.
Manly has until the market opens on November 1st to work out how to squeeze both brothers into a tight salary cap, but every indication suggests the boys wants to remain Sea Eagles for a long period of time.
Captain Daly Cherry-Evans relayed this message that he doesn't want the highly rated brothers going anywhere to The Daily Telegraph.
“I don’t want to have the possibility of them even looking at other offers or other clubs,” Cherry-Evans said.
“Selfishly, that’s why I want them locked away as soon as possible.”
The brothers also spoke of their desire to remain at Manly with another year to run on their contracts. However, with their stocks skyrocketing you would imagine they could get significantly more money elsewhere, yet despite this Jake and Tom wish to stay at Manly.
“We’re Manly boys and we don’t want to leave Manly but in rugby league you never know what is going to happen,” Jake said.
“In an ideal world, we would love to play our whole careers here. That’s what we’re hoping for. Hopefully it will be sorted soon.
“We’re trying not to worry about it. We have the rest of this year and all of next year.
“It’s an exciting time for the club, so you don’t want to be talking about contracts.
“It hasn’t been a distraction. We don’t really talk about it or worry about it.
“We hope it’s sooner rather than later but we’re not too worried.”
Cherry-Evans also spoke about the salary cap and understanding how fitting the brothers in could be difficult with the salary cap.
“They want to stay and I’m sure the club wants them to stay,” Cherry-Evans said. “We are just waiting for it to happen.
“Everyone wants it to happen so I guess that’s why people get antsy towards the situation because you’re just going, ‘why aren’t they locked away yet?’
“But there’s a lot more to it and there’s so much to figure out in this day and age for clubs when it comes to salary caps.
“I do understand why it’s taking so long.”
Manly play the Raiders, Eels and Storm in the next three weeks which will all but decide where the finish in the final table, currently sitting fourth equal on points with the Rabbitohs and Eels.
They will draw level with the Raiders if they win on the weekend but could slip to 6th if they lose, so the brothers have every right to be fully focused on the weekend and not their brewing new contract.
One things looks certain however, they won't be playing for the Bulldogs anytime soon.