Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic may have turned a corner and is ready to tussle for a NSW State of Origin berth and join big brother Jake as a Blue, according to his NRL coach Trent Barrett.
The pair were the chief antagonists as the Sea Eagles snapped a five-game losing streak with a dominant 38-24 win at Brisbane on Saturday.
Dusting off some indifferent form, Jake crossed for two tries, made 180 run metres and finished with 36 tackles to blow the game open in the first half.
Fullback Tom set up two tries - one of those for his brother - and ran for 145 metres to go with two tackle busts, a line break and a line-break assist to push the Broncos out of the top eight.
The pair live together and are inseparable away from the field, the golfing buddies even sharing the same handicap of 16.
A veteran of three Origin games, Jake said the thought of playing alongside his little brother for NSW was hard to ignore.
"I'd love to be in Origin and love for Tom to be there too, it would be awesome," he said.
"He's definitely up to it, playing some good footy the last few years, but there's so many quality players out there."
Manly coach Trent Barrett said Tom deserved to be in the same conversation as top-shelf fullbacks after what he hoped was a defining performance against the Broncos.
"There's a lot of good fullbacks the game at the moment; (James) Tedesco is certainly one of them, Kalyn Ponga is one of the best players in the game now I think," Barret said.
"You're going to get to see Ponga, Trbojevic and Tedesco go head to head for a long time.
"Tom's going to be a very, very good player and I thought (the game against Brisbane) might be the turning point and good learning curve for him."
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