Manly's finals chances in season 2016 were formally ended by a golden try to Bulldog Josh Reynolds on Thursday night in a game that also ended the season of centre Dylan Walker, who succumbed to a shoulder injury.
With no finals in the offing for the Sea Eagles there is also a chance the club will choose to send boom youngster Tom Trbojevic for much-needed ankle surgery after the teenage sensation was badly impaired in the 20-16 loss.
Walker got up clutching his should after a tackle three minutes before half time and immediately came from the field with his coach Trent Barrett later confirming an AC joint problem would prevent him from taking the field again this year.
"Yeah that's probably it for him, he's got a pretty bad AC. That will be his season," Barrett said.
He added Trbojevic would be reassessed now that the finals are out of reach. The 19-year-old confirmed to NRL.com earlier in the season a syndesmosis injury was troubling him and would require him to go under the knife at some stage, though he was prepared to play through the pain while the season was alive.
"We won't be risking blokes now, especially the younger guys," Barrett added.
"But in saying that we're not going to throw away the last three games, we're going to try and win them and if we turn up with attitude and effort again we'll be a big chance.
"We've got a few busted up in there but I think it's really important we come out with the same attitude we have over the last six or seven weeks. We've got two home games at Brooky and we're going to put on a good performance like we did tonight."
Walker has had an eventful season, which started with a move to a new club and an attempt to nail down a new position in five-eighth before eventually being shuffled back to the centres then missing a few games after breaking his hand by punching his own front door, before returning only to injure his shoulder. In between his made his NSW Origin debut in a maligned nine-minute stint off the bench before a solid 80-minute outing in Origin II.
"I just spoke to him about it. It's a learning curve for Dylan," Barrett said of the former Rabbitoh's up-and-down season.
"It's a year where not too many things have gone right for him but he's 21, he's still learning and we've just got to look after him. I'm excited for the future with what we've got and we've just got to keep working hard."
