NSW coach Brad Fittler will have no hesitation in picking Tom Trbojevic for State of Origin off just two games of football in more than four months.
Manly hope Trbojevic will make his long-awaited return from a hamstring injury against Gold Coast next week, just shy of three months since his last game.
The superstar fullback will then only have two matches before Manly’s season ends, meaning another five-and-a-half-week gap until the Origin series opener on November 4.
Working in Trbojevic’s favour is that Manly’s club doctor Nathan Gibbs is also the NSW doctor, with Fittler ready to pick the 23-year-old off minimal game time.
“No, not at all (a concern),” Fittler told Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“We come together on the 19th. Given the doctor situation we will have a good idea of how Tom is.
“He’s a very good player Tom, he is one of the best in the game. So if he is fit and healthy, he gets a start.
“We have a 27-man squad, so a lot will be determined over the next six weeks as well. See how he goes over the next two games.”
Trbojevic will likely play centres for NSW, with Jack Wighton on the other edge and James Tedesco at fullback.
He played just two NRL games on return from another hamstring injury last year before scoring a hat-trick in Origin II, but on that occasion had spent just two months out.
Meanwhile Manly have long insisted they won’t hold their most important player back to protect his problematic hamstring ahead of next year if he is fully fit.
The Sea Eagles have won just three of 12 without him this year, spiralling from top-four hopefuls to missing the finals without their superstar No.1.
If he was to not play again this season for either Manly or NSW, he would likely be able to begin his pre-season at the earliest possible date set down by the NRL.
That would likely come in late November or early December and more than three months out from the start of 2021.
Instead, if he is fit to play in the final two rounds and Origin, his pre-season return at the club will not be permitted until after the new year.
