Tom Trbojevic says a rare uninterrupted pre-season has allowed him to eliminate self-doubt and regain confidence in his game and body.

One of the NRL's unluckiest players, Trbojevic sounded a serious warning to the rest of the competition in Manly's opening-round flogging of North Queensland.

The Sea Eagles fullback had a hand in four tries, twice putting on four-pointers from inside his own half, immediately prompting comparisons to his 2021 form.

The No.1 will also arrive in Auckland on Friday as a chief tormentor of the Warriors, having set up 10 tries and scored five of his own in his past five matches against the club.

Trbojevic believes his round-one form came as a result of having his latest ever finish to a season last year, while still fit and firing for Australia in November.

His three Tests for Australia marked his first international football since 2018, when he last pulled on the Kangaroos jersey.

That came in direct contrast to most of Trbojevic's recent seasons, where a horror run has left him spending parts of summer in injury rehab.

"My last game was midway through November, previous years it has been in June or July," Trbojevic told AAP.

"So that time between has definitely helped me. It's as much mental as physical.

"The fact I could hit the pre-season running has done me really well. That side of it gives you a lot of confidence coming into the game.''

Since Trbojevic's previous post-season football for the Kangaroos in 2018, he has had only one uninterrupted pre-season.

He suffered a torn hamstring in the 2019 pre-season, then failed to finish that season with a pectoral tear on the eve of the finals.

Trbojevic's 2020 was derailed when he tore his hamstring in June, before he injured his shoulder in a late-season comeback match.

And while the fullback overcame a pre-season hamstring tear for his Dally M season in 2021, Trbojevic also suffered season-ending injuries in 2022 and 2023.

But after playing what he considered some of his best football last year in Manly's run to the finals, Trbojevic said it had helped give him confidence in his body again.

"I think that's just natural coming back from an injury," the 28-year-old said.

"You obviously do the work to get through it, but it just takes time mentally feeling like you're up to it.

"(It's important) eliminating that self-doubt about yourself, so it's good coming in fresh into a round one."