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In a thriller at CommBank Stadium on Friday night, Parramatta escaped from the clutches of the Sea Eagles but Manley’s biggest concern is that star fullback Tom Trobozevic has been ruled out for a long cut, possibly due to a shoulder injury.
With 15 minutes left, the star fullback left the field with his left hand wrapped around his jersey as a temporary sling to displace his shoulder after the paramatman’s attempt.
With the NSW State of Origin team being selected next Sunday for the opening match on June 8, there is not much time to recover the Daly M medal winner. He has already dropped out of Origin I due to a specific selection for the Blues and his normal center partner, Latrell Mitchell, due to a torn hamstring.
An attempt by Will Penicini in the 78th minute, then a pressure sideline conversion from Mitchell Moses, won the Para by a dramatic 22-20 when the Sea Eagles looked like they would claim their first top-eight scalp of the season. Match rate against the team in the top half of the competition table.
Following the fall of Premier Penrith a fortnight ago, the Paras lost to the Rosters last week but the win against the Sea Eagles returned to their 7-5 record.
Clint Gutherson thought he started scoring in the first four minutes of his 150th NRL game when Iles Fulback collected a ricochet after a high kick but this was denied when Hayes Perham was ruled to stop Christian Tuipolotu from competing.
Manley made the first blood draw in the 14th minute when a Josh Schuster break finally led to a long exchange along the backline as Ruben Garrick touches the corner and converts his effort into a 6-0 advantage.
Perham, after snatching the first point of the para, corrected the time of slicing on the left edge, following the pass chain along the back.
(Photo by Mark Colby / Getty Images)
In the 23rd minute, Dolly Cherry-Evans in the right corner jumped on the long pass and Tuipolotu went ahead 12-4.
Perham grooved his double at the 30-minute mark when Gutherson tried on the plate with a clever cut-out pass.
The 12-10 scoreline remained until half time and the Sea Eagles also had an edge in the crease through the break when Trobozevic was sent to Moses Sean Bean while manly backing up a minute before the break for a professional foul. Break
Trobozevich had no problem clearing in the opening four minutes and he used the overlap to extend the lead to six, leaving center Morgan Harper in the over.
Garrick took second for the 50th game of his career shortly after Moses rejoined for a 20-10 buffer when he hit a Kieran Foran Graber.
Para hit back in the middle of the second half when second-rower Shawn Lane brought back a one-handed offload deficit for center Tom Opacic to four.
Trobozevich suffered a shoulder injury in the 64th minute as he dived to block a rare attempt by Ellis forward Makahesi Makatoya which was denied anyway for a lead-up failure.
Sea Eagles proposition KP was headed to the bin with seven minutes left for a lifting tackle on Reagan Campbell-Gillard, and his absence was decisive in the final round.