If the first 50 games are anything to go by then Sea Eagles fullback Tom Trbojevic is on track to have the sort of career most people can only dream of.
The 20-year-old burst onto the scene as a gangly young kid on the wing who bagged a double in a losing debut against the Raiders in Albury.
Since then, he's made the move to fullback – a frightening proposition for any youngster having to fill the void left by the 'Prince of Brookvale' Brett Stewart – but it's a position he's made his own with a string of scintillating performances for his beloved Sea Eagles.
On Sunday, Trbojevic bagged a double to take his tally to 28 tries from 50 appearances and more importantly guide his side to a crucial 36-18 win over the high-flying Roosters to get Manly's season back on track.
"I've learnt just how tough this competition is," Trbojevic reflected after the first of many milestone games.
"Week in week out if you're not on top of your game and you're not at 100 per cent, you're going to get found out, and that's what's so good about it because anyone can beat anyone."
Beating teams is something the Sea Eagles had forgotten how to do with Trent Barrett's men conceding 92 points in back-to-back losses to the Dragons and Storm before they snapped the losing streak in style on Sunday afternoon.
The manner in which they fought back with 32 unanswered points – the comeback sparked by tries either side of half-time to their star fullback – was a testament to their character and has Manly firmly entrenched in the eight with one eye on a top four finish.
"The way we were losing those two games was very concerning but we knew we had a good football side here," Trbojevic said of Manly's recent form slump.
"We didn't live up to the standards that we'd set ourselves in the last couple of weeks. Back at home we knew we had to come out and put a performance in and if we didn't we were going to miss out on the top eight, so to come out and do that and get a win over a quality side like the Roosters was very pleasing.
"You play this competition to play finals, and ultimately win the comp. If we didn't win today, it was going to make our job that little bit harder."
A loss would have made their premiership push difficult, but an injury to Trbojevic would have ended it entirely, and that was the scenario going through some people's minds when the boom young gun stayed down writhing in pain midway through the second half when he collected the knees of Roosters centre Latrell Mitchell.
Thankfully it proved to be little more than a shortage of breath with Trbojevic staying on to set up the match-sealing try with a short ball to Brad Parker.
"I was probably carrying on a little bit – I'm renowned for that. I didn’t have much air in my lungs and that's the thing I was trying to get back,"' he said.
"It's a little bit sore now but I've got a week to rest it up and we've got the Tigers next Sunday so that's my focus now."
