Robinson: Why Manu is among the best in the game

Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has welcomed the selection headache following the return of representative stars Joey Manu and Lindsay Collins for Thursday night’s clash against the Sea Eagles.

After dominating at fullback and five-eighth in recent weeks, Manu’s return to the centres after a week off due to injury is expected to bring more strike for a Roosters side looking to keep their finals hopes alive.

Robinson agreed with made by NRL legend Andrew Johns that Manu’s utility value makes him among the top-five players in the game, with the Roosters coach giving the centre licence to roam the field.

“I think Joeys right, his ability to play in many different forms and the freedom he plays with is exceptional,” Robinson told the media on Wednesday.

“Joey is a wonderful player and it’s great to have him back in. He’s obviously been there for a long period of time and to have him missing last week was quite difficult for us, to not have that style of player out there.”

The Kiwi international put on a superb performance last month for the Kiwis, running for a staggering 401 metres against Tonga while playing fullback, and that form has continued at club level no matter position Robinson hands to the Roosters ace.

Entering this week's game, Manu sits second in the league in both linebreak assists and tackle breaks (100), trailing only teammate James Tedesco (120).

“He understands his role clearly. When you play him at wing, centre, fullback and five-eighth, he’s adapted his style to those different positions and all that knowledge of moving around goes into how he wants to play,” Robinson said.

“How he adapts his position to the game is with the knowledge of all those different roles that he’s played, so we expect him to get back in there and do his job first and foremost and then we’ve got to adapt around him on how he wants to play and fit in to that system.

“We need to offer him the opportunity to play with that style and I’m looking forward to getting Joey back out there.”

Star prop Lindsay Collins also returns after recovering from a head knock in Origin III, while five-eighth Luke Keary didn’t miss a beat in last weekend’s defeat of Knights following a three-week concussion break — bringing Robinson's Roosters back closer to full-strength.

"Lindsay is back and ready to go. He's had a really pretty week this week, he’s over the Origin and ready to go," the Roosters coach said.

"And I thought Luke was great last week, he got back into his role and he’s a really important voice in our team so I like the way that he commanded the game and attacked the game.

"He wasn’t just trying to get back into it. He attacked the game and was ready to play and that was great to see.

"We know how we want to play footy, we know our combinations, we’ve started to get some guys back and we want to play better tomorrow night."

With the two sides among four teams locked on 20 competition points and only six games to play, Robinson certainly won't be taking the home side for granted despite seven Sea Eagles stars standing themselves down this week.

“No matter the circumstances around it, we’re focused on being outstanding at what we want to do as the Roosters on Thursday night,” he said.

“Missing players has no effect. What you do is you look at the new players coming in and what their traits are.

“If you honour the game of rugby league and the way you want to play, you go about honouring your jersey and the game you are going to play in the same way.”