Manly will be forced to overturn a poor recent record without Tom Trbojevic if they are to land a blow in the NRL’s finals series.

Trbojevic was due for scans on an injured pectoral muscle on Sunday, but Manly have already accepted his season is likely over after Saturday’s 36-6 loss to Melbourne.

Trbojevic’s injury is almost the worst possible blow the Sea Eagles could have been dealt on the eve of the finals.

Before he went off in the ninth minute on Saturday night, they had won 10 of 11 games with the superstar fullback on the park this year.

Without him in the past two years, they have won just four of 13.

Brendan Elliot will likely start at the back in his place against Parramatta, after he was solid deputising for Trbojevic earlier in the year as he battled hamstring woes.

“It’s been one of those years for him,” Manly coach Des Hasler said.

“It’s just unfortunate the footy gods work that way. But he’s young, he will have plenty of other opportunities.

“But the side have shown all year that they’re pretty resilient. Someone will step up and do a good job.

“(But) we want to do better than (against Melbourne). I don’t think there was an error we didn’t make.”

Manly’s key attacking weapon, the Sea Eagles had averaged 26 points a match with him in the team this year before Saturday night.

Without him, that figure drops to 17.

The 22-year-old’s injury wasn’t the only one to hit Manly on Saturday night.

Prop Morgan Boyle suffered a shoulder blow, also likely to end his season.

Scarce on depth up front, Manly will likely be forced to call Lloyd Perrett up for his first game of the year on the bench, with Jack Gosiewski moving to the middle and Corey Waddell starting on the edge.

Prop Toafofoa Sipley and second-rower Joel Thompson are also still unavailable through injury.

“We’re not only walking away with a loss, we’ve got a couple of serious injuries off the back of it,” Hasler said.

“And our depth has already been tested. So we’re going to have to dig a bit deeper.”

In better news for Manly, Gosiewski is expected to be cleared of a leg injury to take on the Eels.

Saturday’s result dropped them down to fifth, now needing to beat Parramatta next weekend and have South Sydney lose to the Sydney Roosters by a combined margin of 33 to finish in the top four.