Manly are facing an early season front-row crisis with Martin Taupau and Addin Fonua-Blake copping two-game suspensions for shoulder charges in last week's NRL season-opener.
The pair accepted early guilty pleas for grade one charges on separate no-arms hits on Tuesday, leaving the Sea Eagles with a shortage of experienced props.
New recruit Lloyd Perrett is also believed to have suffered an eye socket injury in the loss to Parramatta, while Darcy Lussick remains sidelined with a wrist issue.
The absence of four top-line big men is sure to test the club's depth when they host South Sydney and the hulking Burgess brothers this week.
"It's going to be a tough one for us against a real physical side in South Sydney but it's an important one for us to front up in the middle," five-eighth Blake Green said on Tuesday.
"It gives a few blokes an opportunity who probably thought they weren't going to get one so early in the season. But it's just another challenge and we've got to step up and be ready."
Taupau was charged over a 13th-minute no-arms hit on opposing prop Suaia Matagi, while Fonua-Blake was pinged for an illegal tackle on halfback Corey Norman in the 80th minute.
It's the first time Taupau has committed the offence but his penalty was weighted with three other non-similar matters over the past two years.
Teammate Jake Trbojevic denied the Sea Eagles enforcer needed to hone in his game.
"That's the way he's always played and it's been really good for him. I thought he had a really good game on the weekend, he was really physical up front, really strong," he said.
"He's playing his best when he's aggressive. It's hard to change someone like that.
"There might be a few little things he could tweak but you don't want to take the aggression out of him because that's when he plays his best footy."
Trbojevic, who is widely regarded among the competition's best tacklers, did admit it would be challenging for experienced players to take the shoulder charge technique from their game.
"If people have done it throughout their career it might be hard," he said.
"But I think the way the game is, you just can't do it these days. You've just going to get it out of the game because you can't be getting suspended week in, week out."
Share
