Injured Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic still hopes to return to the field in the opening round of the NRL season as he departs for the US to begin training with the reconditioning expert who rehabilitated Latrell Mitchell last year.
Trbojevic said he’d spoken with Philadelphia-based reconditioning guru Bill Knowles on a Zoom call ahead of his flight on Saturday but wasn’t sure exactly what the training program would entail. He’s approaching his time in the US with an open mind.
Tom Trbojevic’s (left) string of injuries includes a damaged shoulder that cut his season short last year.Credit:Getty
“He’s one of the experts in this field; I’ve got a lot of confidence,” Trbojevic said. “You hope to get a lot out of it, so you can come back, be confident in yourself and your body, that you’re doing everything you can to stay on the park and play good footy.”
Trbojevic was sidelined for two months in mid-December last year after tearing his right hamstring in pre-season training. In 2021, a previous off-season hamstring tear kept him off the field until round six and last year shoulder surgery restricted his season to seven games.
He said he was frustrated by the latest setback.
“I was obviously a little bit down,” he said. “It wasn’t what you wanted – I was really enjoying training back in pre-season. Wasn’t good, but I’ve moved on from that, and now I’m in the process of getting myself right and getting back to playing footy.
“Being down’s only going to get you so far.”
Trbojevic said he’d shared texts with Mitchell, whose $57,000 reconditioning trip was documented by the Rabbitohs last year. Trbojevic will also try to touch base with Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen, who is at the tail end of a two-week treatment program with Knowles.
After his time with Mitchell the rehabilitation expert told the Herald that he took a holistic approach and tried to “pull the athlete out of their injury”.
“It’s not about being focused on the hamstring. Have I rehabbed a lot of hamstrings? Yes. A lot of knees? Yes. A lot of calves and achilles and surgeries? Yes,” Knowles said. “In this case we look at it that the hamstring is not a solo, it’s in a symphony.”
Trbojevic said he was aiming to play round one in February and expected to incorporate Knowles’ advice into his long-term training regime.
“I think a lot of it’s to do with reconditioning your body and rewiring it to move better, to put less stress on your hammys and other areas of your body. I think in the short term, it’s about definitely moving better but hopefully that has a long-term effect and can show in the park for however long.”
