Time to make a big statement, whatever the highest paid player in rugby league is getting, give another 20 or 30 per cent to Manly’s Tom Trbojevic.
What a player. What a purple patch of form. Fully fit, possibly the most imposing player I’ve ever seen for involvement in a game.
He’s a fullback, he’s a half, he’s a prop, he’s prepared to take a hit up one off the ruck, he’s a superb support player, he’s a runner, he’s an athlete, he’s a footballer.
If you missed seeing last night’s game of Manly versus Cronulla, and you may have if you were tuned in to the Olympics, you missed yet another incredible performance. A player that’s playing as if he comes from another universe.
Tommy Turbo’s stats last night, 65 minutes, three tries - his third hat-trick for the year and 18th try from 11 games - 15 runs, 178 metres, 11 tackle busts, five offloads, three line-breaks, six line-break assists and three try assists.
It makes you puffed just reading them out.
I don’t know whether I’ve seen a player in all my years watching rugby league dominate a team so consistently.
Trbojevic was like he was playing in the under 10s or 11s, the big kid who you just give the ball to and he scores every time.
He will win the Dally M medal if he remains fit, even if in some cases he will have played seven or eight games less than his rivals this year.
Remember too in this streak of form he was the Wally Lewis medal winner for player of the series in State of Origin.
Another strand to this story is somewhat of a problem for those who sit in judgement of rugby league Immortal status down the track.
The fullback of the modern day is an entirely different beast to those in the first 60 years at least of the game.
I hope this isn’t take as disrespect, but Clive Churchill – one of the first Immortals - wouldn’t have done an attack in his career what Trbojevic has done in a single season.
Fullbacks didn’t play on the line, they weren’t the ball players and playmakers we have now. This is fact.
How many tries did Churchill score in his career? The answer is 13.
Keith Barnes, the great Keith Barnes, Golden Boots, a great fullback. How many tries in his career? The answer is 11.
Les Johns, one of the best running fullbacks, he scored 14 tries in his career.
It wasn’t until 1961 that an Australian fullback scored a try in a test match, that was Don Parish against the Kiwis.
The modern day fullback might just be the most valuable player on the field with the roles they play.
Manly have the crown jewel in Tommy Turbo. If he can sustain this form for next few years – he is only 24 – he won’t just be arguably the best player in the game, he will be in the company of the very best of all time.