Ballet exercises are the secret weapon keeping Tom Trbojevic injury-free this pre-season.
The Manly fullback will be one of the biggest drawcards when the NRL kicks off its season in Las Vegas in less than a fortnight.
This masthead can reveal the unique training regime introduced by Jon Clarke, Manly’s new head of performance who worked under Eddie Jones with England and the Wallabies the past six years, finally has Trbojevic free of niggling pain.
Trbojevic, who hoped this story would not earn him the nickname “Tommy Tutu”, said Clarke identified an issue with his right foot not long after he arrived at the Northern Beaches for the start of the Sea Eagles’ pre-season.
“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. ‘JC’ will get you to wiggle your toes, or leave some toes on the ground while trying to raise others.
Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic is finally pain free.Credit: Getty Images
“He comes with a wealth of knowledge. He’s smart, has new ideas, and he’s just easy to talk to. Everyone talks about my hammies, but there hasn’t been a massive focus on that with his program. He basically wants me to get better as an athlete.”
Clarke, who played more than 350 Super League games, including a stint with Manly coach Anthony Seibold at the London Broncos, said Trbojevic was one of the most diligent players he had worked with and that he had quickly embraced the ballerina exercises.
Clarke said he was first introduced to the ballet activities when working with a physio at English rugby, who wanted the props to strengthen their feet when packing into scrums.
“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.
Manly’s new head of performance Jon Clarke has worked under Eddie Jones with the England and Australia rugby teams.Credit: Alfred Naupoto
“We focused on that initially, and we tweaked a few things. You need control of your toes and feet, and there are basic toe exercises like, ‘Can you leave your big toe in the air while your other four toes are on the ground?’ , or ‘Can you lift your four toes while your big toe is down?’
“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.
“Every time we’ve been in, he’s finished a session, then he’ll do an extra 30 or 40 minutes in the gym. He still does it now.”
Trbojevic, who went into last season with a hamstring injury, was restricted to 11 games after tearing a pectoral muscle in Origin I. The year before, he dislocated his shoulder after just seven games.
In 2021, however, a fit Trbojevic dominated rivals, leading Manly to a preliminary final and winning the Dally M on the back of just 18 club games.
This year, Trbojevic was so dominant in his only public pre-season outing, against St George Illawarra, that Dragons coach Shane Flanagan declared on the spot Manly could win the premiership if ‘Turbo’ stayed fit.
“Of course you want to win a comp, and while Flanno can say what he wants, we did only play the Dragons in a scrimmage,” Trbojevic said.
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