Much was made about the Storm’s blueprint to shut it down Manly’s most dangerous player, but Trbojevic himself said opposition teams trying to kick to corners, limit his possession and make sure three and four defenders aimed up every time he ran the ball was hardly revolutionary.

“Every team wants to kick into the corners, it’s not some new tactic,” Trbojevic told the Herald. “If a team has to kick from their own half, it makes it a lot harder for them to do what they want to do [with the opposition backs].

“It’s about winning field position battle. We will be better this week. We need to be better this week.”

Trbojevic’s run of form has been compared to Jarryd Hayne’s giant-killing run in 2009 with Parramatta, and Ben Barba’s Bulldogs’ charge in 2012. But both players failed to go on and win the title in those respective years, something Trbojevic wanted to avoid.

“It will all mean nothing if we don’t do anything,” Trbojevic said. “I’ve never got caught up with the Hayne and Barba chat. We’re a team, it’s a team sport, we lose together and win together.

“We were disappointing on the weekend, but we earned ourselves a second chance, and we now need to make the most of it. The Roosters have had a special year with what they’ve been through. They’re still playing exceptional footy.”

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Trbojevic and Tedesco have only clashed the once in the past three NRL seasons. ‘Turbo’ missed the opening-round loss to the Roosters because of a hamstring injury, but was man of the match in the round-two clash last year at Leichhardt Oval, 48 hours before the competition was shut down because of COVID-19.

Tedesco, who has been an inspiration for the injury-ravaged Roosters, said of Trbojevic, one of his regular golf partners on representative duty: “It’s going to be an enjoyable game, Tommy’s been in such great form all year and has been good to watch. It’s a big job for us as a whole defensive line to make sure he and their halves don’t control the game.

“I’m sure they’re going to come out and do everything they can to win and I’m sure that means more touches for Tommy and more involvement, so it’s a big job for us to keep him quiet again.”

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