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Manly coach Des Hasler has anointed Tom Trbojevic as the world's best rugby league fullback as he targets a return to the NSW State of Origin side.
Eat your heart out James Tedesco, Kalyn Ponga and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Manly coach Des Hasler has labelled Tom Trbojevic the world's best fullback as the Sea Eagles star gets set to seal a NSW State of Origin berth during Sunday's NRL clash with St George Illawarra.
With Blues winger Nick Cotric sidelined with an ankle injury, Trbojevic must simply get through the match to ensure his place in Brad Fittler's side for game two in Perth.
Trbojevic must erase any doubt in the selectors' minds having missed part of the pre-season and the first two rounds with a hamstring issue and another eight weeks after aggravating the injury.
In his return last week against North Queensland he looked shaky under the high ball, dropping two bombs - including one that led to a try - and seemed to be lacking some of his usual zip.
"He still came up with a couple of try assists," Hasler countered.
"He'll be a lot better for the run plus going into that one he had a pretty bad virus.
"He's a big-match player. He's got the ability to play fullback.
"I think he's the best fullback in the world. He can play centre, he can play wing. You'd think at some stage he's going to come into calculations. But it's up to the Blues."
The Dragons, meanwhile, copped yet another injury blow this week when centre Zac Lomax was ruled out for a month with a broken thumb after a training accident.
He will be replaced by former Brisbane winger Lachlan Maranta who will play his first NRL game since round 22, 2016.
With James Graham, Gareth Widdop and Tim Lafai already missing, Manly shapes as a tough challenge for the Dragons who broke a five-game losing streak with a win over Canterbury last week.
"You win a couple of games and you can climb up the ladder quickly," Dragons coach Paul McGregor said.
"You lose a couple and you can fall down quickly.
"For us it's about maintaining certain standards in our game. If we play to those standards they'll get you wins when you need to.
"In the last month we've played some good footy but we haven't played a complete game. On the weekend we were very close to that. We didn't do that but we got a result."
STATS THAT MATTER
* Manly has its worst NRL record against the Dragons, winning just nine of 28 games (32.1 per cent).
* The Dragons have tended to fade in the second half of games this season as they concede the second most points (157) and scoring the fourth fewest (101).
