Fiery prop Martin Taupau has bristled at the suggestion Manly have struggled without some of their biggest stars ahead of Saturday’s crunch NRL clash with Parramatta.

But Taupau did concede the Sea Eagles are out to make amends for their controversial round-four loss to the Eels when an incorrect forward-pass call cost them victory.

Manly have gone 0-3 without fullback Tom Trbojevic (ankle) and playmaker Dylan Walker (hamstring) to drift to 10th spot before what looms as a tough showdown with the ladder-leading Eels.

The Sea Eagles have also had to endure the fallout over Addin Fonua-Blake’s two-match ban and fine for his vile comments towards a referee.

But when asked if it would get the monkey off their back to get a win without the stars, Taupau wasn’t impressed.

“I don’t know what kind of zoo you’ve been to but we’ve won games without Addin, we’ve won games without Turbo (Trbojevic) and we have won games without superstars,” he said.

“I believe we can do that and we will do that. That (missing stars) is the nature of the beast.”

Fonua-Blake blew up after officials made what was later deemed an incorrect call to not award Manly a last-gasp penalty that could have tied up their match won by Newcastle two rounds ago.

It was the latest tough call the Sea Eagles have had to cop this season.

Taupau believes their bad luck started in their round-four 19-16 loss to the Eels when winger Reuben Garrick’s match-winning try was disallowed due to the forward-pass call that was later deemed incorrect by NRL head of football Graham Annesley.

“It may have started at that Parramatta game when 50-50 calls didn’t go our way,” he said.

“It was very unfortunate with the result right at the end of that match … but it (Saturday) is a great opportunity for us to make amends.

“It’s not been the prettiest sights over the last couple of weeks with us, there’s obviously been a few things happening off the field.

“(But) I thought we did outcompete our competitors in that (round four) game – I believe we will definitely do that again this week.”