Ben rides maroon and white wave in bid to become a Blues brother

The chance to emulate his brothers Tom and Jake and pull on a NSW Blues jersey might still seem a long way off but Ben Trbojevic is certainly displaying what good judges call 'representative potential'. 

Now in his sixth season in the top grade and with 76 games to his name, the 24-year-old is revelling under new coach Kieran Foran as Manly carry a four-game winning streak into a huge showdown against the Panthers on Sunday.

By way of reference, Tom made his Origin debut in 2018 off 66 NRL games, while oldest brother Jake debuted for NSW in 2017 after 58 NRL games.

“Seeing Tom and Jake play for the Blues and for Australia is pretty cool,” Ben said. 

“Obviously it’s a goal for me as I’m sure it is for every NRL player. 

“I’m so keen to do my best for Manly each week and try to keep this winning streak going.

“I just want to focus each week on Manly get the results there but I do think I’m getting more confident. I’m backing myself a bit more and more willing to throw the pass when I think it’s on. 

“So I’ll keep training hard and hopefully keep going forward.” 

Ben was the most creative of the Sea Eagles in their 33-18 win over Parramatta with two line breaks, one line break assist, a try assist, two tackle busts and two offloads. 

Across eight rounds he averages 127 metres a game and has a tackle efficiency of 92.5 per cent.

His 50-metre dash late in the match down Manly’s eastern sideline in front of a packed Brookie hill proved he has a good set of wheels underneath him. 

“I ended up on the wing for a bit and when I got to the fullback I didn’t know what to do so I saw someone inside so I kicked it,” Trbojevic told NRL.com.

“But Reuben bombed it so I didn’t get the try assist.” 

He did nail one earlier with a superb offload in the 56th minute for his halfback Jamal Fogarty to scoot away and score. 

Wins over the Dolphins, Dragons, Cowboys and Eels under Foran's guidance have reaped 151 points at an average of 38 per game, while they have conceded just 60 points.

“Foz has put belief back in the squad after the start to the year where we kind of lost our way a bit,” Ben said. 

“He’s really led the boys well but there’s a long way to go and next week [against the Panthers] is another massive one.”