Manly Sea Eagles Origin star Jake Trbojevic has been ruled out of this weekend's clash with the St George Illawarra Dragons after contracting coronavirus.
The virus has slowly been working its way through the competition in recent times after a reported 80 per cent of players tested positive during the pre-season.
It's now reported by The Daily Telegraph that the veteran lock forward has tested positive and will miss the coming game, although, should symptoms not be bad or hang around past a week, he has a longer time to recover than most given how early in the week he has tested positive before the Sea Eagles' next game, to be played on the Thursday of Round 20 against the Roosters.
The clash between the Sea Eagles and Dragons is set to be a pivotal one on the run into the finals.
The Sea Eagles are currently clinging onto eighth spot ahead of the Dragons, Sydney Roosters and Canberra Raiders, who all sit two points behind the men from the Northern Beaches. Manly's for and against being below that of the Roosters is also a cause for concern for coach Des Hasler.
A single slip up from Manly could have the side fighting for their finals life during the final weeks of the campaign, capping off a dramatic fall from the preliminary finals last year.
The club managed to win on Saturday evening over the Newcastle Knights, with both Daly Cherry-Evans and Trbojevic backing up from the State of Origin decider just 72 hours earlier.
The Dragons and Sea Eagles will clash at 6pm (AEST) on Friday evening at Kogarah.
