Just four days after his starring return for the Blues in Game Two of the State of Origin series, Jake Trbojevic once again showed his competitive side, running out for all bar five minutes of Manly's stirring 36-30 win over Premiership contenders Melbourne.
While most players would appreciate the early mark to rest a weary body, you can guarantee the workhorse lock was counting every second of those final minutes as he watched from the sideline — especially when Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen threatened to inspire the most incredible of comebacks.
With 146 minutes, 260 metres and 56 tackles under his belt in the last five days, Trbojevic was understandable — and appreciative — of coach Des Hasler's decision to rest him late, but said he would have played the full 80 minutes if he had his own way.
“Of course you want to be out there but I understood, it felt like the game was over and it had been a big week,” a relieved Trbojevic told pan66.com after Manly’s Round 16 victory over the Storm.
“It always felt like we were safe, but I didn’t think it would get that close. We were actually kicking off where they had scoring range and there was only six points in it.
“I nearly just ran out there in the end, especially when it felt like they were coming back.”
With four tries in the space of five minutes, Trbojevic said he was having flashbacks of a fortnight ago when the Cowboys came back to defeat the Sea Eagles despite the home side having a commanding lead late on.
“A couple of weeks ago we didn’t put it to bed so obviously we had that in the back of our mind and thought we can’t have that happening again because that was just so devastating,” he said.
“So obviously we’ve got a lot to work on but for 75 minutes, it was a real quality performance against a quality side so we’ve got to take the positives from that.
“It’s probably not the rivalry it was back in the day but it’s just great to beat the Storm, they’re a great side and have been the best side the last decade.
"To get a win against them is really good for our season.
"We had to win tonight, it didn’t matter how, I’m just happy we won.”
After finishing the match with a game-high 15 hit-ups for 148 metres and 31 tackles, the recalled Blues lock, who delivered one of the most complete performances from a middle forward in Game Two, said he was looking forward to the challenge that awaits New South Wales at a sold out Suncorp Stadium.
"There's a big challenge in front of us with Origin — we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves but it was a nice week last week," Trbojevic said.
"I think every time I play I just don’t want to let anyone down and I just want to do my job.
"I know I’m not a special player, I'm not going to break a game open or anything but I just want to try and be consistent and try and get the little things right and going in to a big game like Origin that's what I was focusing on."