NRL star Tom Trbojevic has the potential to make or break new Manly coach Anthony Seibold

The Sea Eagles fullback, a vocal and loyal supporter of Des Hasler, will be Seibold’s main priority in 2023 if the dramatic coaching overhaul is to bring Manly the success they’re looking for.

‘Turbo’ and his brother Jake are extremely close to Hasler, who was unceremoniously sacked from the club after a miserable 11th-place finish to the season that fizzled out with seven straight losses to end the year. There were fears at the time the brothers would agitate a release from their respective contracts – such was their shock and disappointment at the club’s treatment of Hasler almost two months ago.

It puts Seibold in an awkward but important position. To succeed where Hasler didn’t, the ex-South Sydney and Brisbane coach needs to not only get the 26-year-old fullback on board, but keep him fit, and develop an effective plan to replace him should he miss any more game time through injury next season.

“It doesn’t surprise me that that was the commentary around them. They’re good men,” Seibold says when asked about the Trbojevics’ loyalty to Hasler.

“I’ve worked with them prior to this. I’ve had a number of discussions with them, particularly with Tom because Jake’s been in the Aussie camp (for the World Cup).

“His performances over the last two weeks (of the pre-season) … he’s probably one of the best players in the game and I think that says something about where he’s at.

“I can’t wait to get out there on the field (on day one) to be honest. I’ve been constantly cooperating with the coaching staff and the playing group but there’s nothing like being there. We’re into week three now so it’s good to be back and get started.”

After two weeks of working remotely while finishing up his obligations with English Rugby, Seibold arrived at Manly training for the first time on Tuesday morning with a mission to achieve what Hasler couldn’t in his second stint at the club – win a premiership.

It was ultimately Hasler’s downfall, but the same challenge remains for Seibold. The likelihood of success rests on whether ‘Turbo’ remains fit.

Such is his influence.

Over the past four seasons he’s played just 44 NRL games (missing 53 possible games) while battling shoulder, knee and hamstring injuries. Manly’s success or decline over the same period can be traced on the same trajectory. In 2022, he suffered a knee injury followed by a season-ending shoulder injury and was limited to just seven games. Manly won just four games without him from May onwards.

According to stats from Fox Sports Lab, since 2019, Manly have won just 34 per cent of games when Turbo is missing, but that number shoots up to 68.2 per cent when he’s on the park. They score an average of 19.9 points per game without him, and 26.7 when he plays.

Defence is an issue too. They concede just 17.9 points a game with Turbo in the No.1 jersey, but without him it blows out to a whopping 26.1 points scored by the opposition.

The numbers make him the most influential player in the modern game – similar to Johnathan Thurston at North Queensland and Andrew Johns at Newcastle.

For Seibold, the backup options remain the same should Trbojevic continue to be plagued by unrelated injuries. There’s centre Reuben Garrick, who has most often filled in at No.1, as well as Tolutau Koula and Kaeo Weekes.

Planning for injury seems pessimistic, but failing to do so would be a disaster for Manly considering Trbojevic’s bad luck in recent years – and this is where Seibold’s ability to develop young talent comes in.

“There’s a lot of potential, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve got some of the leading players in the game,” he says.

“If you think about Tom Trbojevic, he didn’t play much football last year but the previous year he was the Dally M player of the year. We’ve got some elite players in Jake Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans, who were both with the Australian side who won the World Cup, there’s some emerging guys too.

“The challenge, or the opportunity that we have is in the potential and how far we can take that. Each and every single group … there’s potential, it’s what you get out of it. And it does excite me.”

Trbojevic is tracking to start in round one at home against Canterbury, and if he can get through a full season for the first time since 2018, his influence alone could help produce the miracle Manly are banking on.