Tom Trbojevic's $10k truth after latest cruel blow for NRL star

Anyone got a spare $10,000 floating around to save the career of a brilliant but injury prone rugby league player? That's around how much it would cost Manly to send Tom Trbojevic to the same US specialist who helped South Sydney superstar Latrell Mitchell overcome a run of debilitating hamstring problems.

The Sea Eagles are taking a cautious approach to Turbo's latest hamstring strain and say they haven’t given any thought to using Bill Knowles, the American who used unorthodox methods to "re-educate" Mitchell how to run.

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The Philadelphia-based reconditioning expert, who is in hot demand from athletes around the world, charged a modest fee of around $10,000 for his services.

The Sea Eagles are comfortable keeping things in-house for now, using their own medical and training staff to nurse the star No.1 back to full fitness after his fifth hamstring tear in three years ruled him out for up to eight weeks.

But perhaps it’s time – especially with Turbo now cooling his jets until February - to bite the bullet and send Trbojevic to the States in a bid to get things right once and for all.

Tom Trbojevic has been plagued by injuries for years

We need to find out if his body is cut out for the intensity of top-level rugby league The 26-year-old's played just 44 games since 2019 and we don’t need to tell you how the Sea Eagles fare when he's not there.

In that same period, rival fullbacks either cracked the 100-game mark (Clint Gutherson) or finished in the 80s (James Tedesco and Dylan Edwards).

Knowles could make a difference. He worked for Mitchell, who returned a different player and a different man.

South Sydney officials rate it money very well spent, not only receiving a re-born player but turning their star's rehab journey into a documentary that attracted tens of thousands of views.

"I got a lot of confidence out of it, a bit of growth, it's been awesome," Mitchell said at the time. Bill Knowles, he knew what he was doing. He taught me from day one how to walk all the way up to running."

Trbojevic is naturally distressed by the latest setback and you have to wonder where he sits psychologically. Every game he plays, every training session he conducts, there is a sense of trepidation.

Part with the dough, Manly, and give the kid a decent shot at finishing as one of the game's greats.