Sea Eagles star Tom Trbojevic has reportedly utilised ballet exercises in a bid to remain injury free this season, adopting unique training methods to achieve peak performance.
That is according to the SMH, who are reporting Manly’s new head of performance Jon Clarke spotted an issue with the star fullback’s right foot.
Clarke introduced the ballet exercises and now the former Dally M Medallist is reportedly free of niggling pain that has consistently plagued him.
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“Tom has fully bought into a couple of things I’ve suggested after watching him move – he’s been super, super diligent,” Clarke said.
“There was a bit going on with Tom’s right ankle and foot. When we dug into it a bit, there was probably an old injury there from a while ago.
“When he started it, he had no control or foot strength. I said to him, ‘If your foot isn’t doing its job when it hits the floor, something else up the chain is doing it for it’.
“We started out with foot-strength work we got from ballerinas in England. Ballerinas have the greatest foot strength in the world.”
Trbojevic spends an extra half-hour after each training session to complete the exercises, having suffered a hamstring injury and a pectoral tear in Origin last season.
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He only played 11 games for the Sea Eagles in 2023 and dislocated his shoulder only seven games into the 2022 season after winning the Dally M Medal in 2021.
But now, with the help of his new training methods, Trbojevic believes he is only becoming stronger as an athlete.
“Jon was big on helping me understand what happens to the foot when it hits the floor, and it was about learning new skills to strengthen the foot and the toes,” Trbojevic said.
“I was pretty weak when we started the ballerina exercises, and it only made me realise how much stronger I needed to get.”
Sharks prop Toby Rudolf also called upon the expertise of the head physiotherapist of the Australian Ballet in 2023, hoping to overcome turf toe.
