Justin Holbrook is a relieved man to know Tom Trbojevic won’t be lining up for the Manly Sea Eagles this afternoon.
But while reigning Dally M’s Player of the Year may be out, the Gold Coast Titans manager knows his opponent still has plenty of punching power without the star full-back after a dominant display against Newcastle Knights in of their last start missing the No. 1 gun.
“He’s such a good player in the competition, isn’t he? But they won quite easily last week without him, so they’ll be confident,” Holbrook said.
“I’d be lying if I said I wish he’d played, wouldn’t I? So, I’m not going to lie… I’m ok with him not playing but listen they’re still so dangerous so we have to play well.”
That includes trying to limit skipper Manly Daly Cherry Evans’ kicking game, which has been arguably the best in the competition this season.
“He’s been dictating games himself for a number of years now, so without having Turbo he’s the most important player on their team,” Holbrook said.
“You can’t just arrest guys like that because they’re popping up everywhere, and he does. field kick or pop up either side somewhere.
“Collectively we have to do it because he’s playing fantastic so we have to do a really good job on him.”
The Titans mentor stressed the need to capitalize on every opportunity that presents itself during last Saturday’s post-match press conference, after a number of missed chances allowed the Eels to counterattack.
Press conference: Round 5
“I thought we started well last week. 20 minutes later it was 0-0 and then we almost landed a ground kick and then they went to the other side and scored, c So that’s what I was talking about after the game…these are the times when we have to try to win, especially against good teams because they make you pay,” Holbrook said.
“We came close to scoring. We could have led 6-0 but instead we go to the other end and then concede a few more and fight to come back from 20-0 down.
“We can’t afford to do that, so we just have to take a chance, win some of those moments that we didn’t win in the first half and it could have gone differently, so we have to improve at this.”
As well as freezing any opportunity that presents itself, there has been a greater focus on defensive pressure this week in training, including the ability to stay competitive and change the flow of momentum when the game goes into the other direction.
“Last week I think we only had 35% possession, so you’re going to find [line speed] hard to do, so we’re going to try to keep the game fluid as much as possible so we can maintain our line speed,” Holbrook said.
“In the second half we had it because we had more ball possession, so that kind of dictates how much energy you have.”
“We have to be better at changing momentum earlier rather than staying in one direction, so we have to work harder.”
