![\"Sea](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/c5c902c95c37bce080e2a8f9f314dc3e425a09fa.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThese are the questions the Sea Eagles hierarchy is currently grappling with.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s evident is that both will be taking a significant haircut. Next season marks the final year of a heavily back-ended contract in which the siblings will be taking home $2.35 million between them. It is an extraordinary amount given their output in recent seasons. To Tom\u2019s credit, he acknowledges as much.<\/p>\n
\u2018I haven\u2019t played enough footy to justify what I\u2019ve been paid.\u2019<\/p>\n
Tom Trbojevic<\/p>\n
\u201cTommy Turbo\u201d has played just 54 games since his breakout Dally M season in 2021, one of the hottest of hot streaks the NRL has ever seen.<\/p>\n
For very different reasons, Jake\u2019s stocks have also slumped. Last year, \u201cJurbo\u201d was the victorious NSW State of Origin skipper, showing he brings as much off the field as on it. However, the 31-year-old-forward has suffered three concussions in short succession, raising questions about whether he will see out his current contract, let alone a new one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not entirely sure where he\u2019s at,\u201d Tom said about the prospect of Jake playing beyond 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s definitely got next year. I think he\u2019ll go another year, but I don\u2019t want to say anything [out of school], you know what I mean?<\/p>\n
\u201c… It\u2019s unfortunate, and sometimes that happens in footy, but he\u2019ll be excited to put on the footy boots, maybe the headgear next year, and get back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sea Eagles star Tom Trbojevic.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
This is where it becomes tricky for the Sea Eagles. Already battling the public relations disaster that has been Daly Cherry-Evans\u2019 decision to leave, they can\u2019t afford to lose two other favourite sons in the current political environment.<\/p>\n
That DCE bushfire has been raging throughout what has been a disappointing season, even if they manage to salvage it somewhat by squeaking into the finals with two late wins. And then there\u2019s the usual scuttlebutt that is de rigueur on the northern beaches; rumours about the coach (he\u2019s safe), the chief executive (safe) and whether the senior players are on board with the direction of the club.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just look at footy,\u201d Trbojevic said. \u201cI want to win footy games and want to be playing finals footy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t won a comp \u2013 that\u2019s what I want to do. At the moment, we are not getting into a position to do that. I\u2019m not singling people out because I\u2019m included. I haven\u2019t played the best footy this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m certainly not going out and talking to people and saying I\u2019m not happy with the direction of the club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with Cherry-Evans departing, the Manly salary cap is at capacity next year. The pack is light on middle forwards, but the money invested in that Trbojevic duo leaves them with little scope to alter their roster.<\/p>\n
Investing too heavily in either again will prevent the brothers from achieving their ultimate goal, winning a premiership with Manly.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s a fair price?<\/p>\n
For the time being, talks about extending Jake\u2019s contract have been put on hold while he recovers from his latest concussion. It is a sensible outcome.<\/p>\n
As for what Tom is worth? Next season he is on $1.3 million. It\u2019s a price several clubs would willingly pay, although he would be prepared to stay for a sum below seven figures per season if he thought the savings would go towards a premiership-winning roster. Currently, that\u2019s a big \u2018if\u2019.<\/p>\n
Asked what could be done to ensure the Sea Eagles were a genuine contender, Trbojevic said: \u201cI don\u2019t know. It\u2019s above my pay grade.\u201d<\/p>\n
How far above remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
NRL is Live and Free on Channel 9 & 9Now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These are the questions the Sea Eagles hierarchy is currently grappling with. What\u2019s evident is that both will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-98960","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}