There were questions last year about whether there was a divide in the Sea Eagles squad, but the bond among the players has never been stronger, with Josh Aloiai admitting “it hurt” to see Tom Trbojevic go down injured on Sunday.
Trbojevic will have scans on his groin on Monday, with the club hopeful that his latest injury setback isn’t too serious given he was able to walk freely in the sheds after the 22-16 win over the Wests Tigers.
It is a huge concern to see the star fullback go down, but his teammates are rallying around him just days after Trbojevic hosted a poker night and bought dinner for about 20 players.
“We’re just super connected here and some of our relationships are really tight, so when you see your mate get hurt like that, it hurts a little bit,” Aloiai said.
“You want that connectivity in the group and we really care about one another. You can see that on the field and we’ve been building it off the field.
“Across the whole group, we’re going to have each other’s back and that’s how we’re going to respond to everything this year.”
The Sea Eagles are up to second spot on the ladder in an incredible turnaround from the team that crumbled late last year after the pride jersey fiasco.
Their late-season capitulation cost Des Hasler his job, but Anthony Seibold has come in and steadied the ship, with the pre-season champions finding ways to win when they’re not at their best.
That was the case on Sunday when the Tigers dominated the second half and hit the front late in the game, but the Sea Eagles calmly dealt with the adversity and rallied late to retake the lead through a Jason Saab try.
Winning ugly is something they haven’t been able to do in recent years, with Manly often relying on their slick attack to get the job done, but the past two weeks have shown that this is a very different team.
“Perhaps in the past we wouldn’t have got there in the end and found a way to win ugly. An ugly win is better than an ugly loss,” Aloiai said.
“Manly mentality is continuing to turn up for each other, and we did that. Statistically, everything was against, but we found a way to win. That’s part of the Manly mentality.”
