Manly coach Anthony Seibold says the decision to shift Tom Trbojevic into the centres “wasn’t a punishment” and revealed Daly Cherry-Evans addressed the playing group about his decision to leave the club.
Seibold comes into Friday’s clash with Wests Tigers under pressure after his side lost three of their past four games to drop out of the top eight. The coach has shown he’s not afraid to make big calls, dropping several stars to reserve grade in the bye week and shifting Trbojevic from fullback to the centres, allowing Lehi Hopoate to wear the No.1 jersey.
It’s been a tumultuous time at Brookvale, with rumours swirling about the future of Seibold due to the discrepancy between his team’s best and worst performances.
Trbojevic has been struggling for form, evidenced by his inability to make the NSW team. However, Seibold insists the positional switch isn’t a penalty and will only be temporary.
“Well, first of all, I’ll say it wasn’t a punishment. I don’t know what the take has been on it externally, but it’s not a punishment,” Seibold said.
“It’s around helping ‘Turbo’ find a little bit of confidence without worrying about the team. As a fullback you have to worry about the line organisation. You have to worry about the secondary side of an attack. And I feel for Turbo, [it’s about] going about himself and playing with a bit of flow and and enjoying footy again and competing, without having the organisational skills, which he is unreal at.
“It’s just about taking a little bit of pressure off him. And it’s also about recognising and rewarding Lehi Hopoate.
“We’ve missed him the last two games. He got knocked trying to score a try about three or four minutes into the Knights game a couple of weeks ago. But prior to that, he’s been in great form. So it’s about allowing Turbo to play with a bit of freedom and flow. And he is the Australian Kangaroos centre.
“He’s done that at the highest level and he’ll do a good job.”
Coach of the Manly Sea-Eagles, Anthony Seibold, addresses media at club headquarters at Brookvale on Thursday.Credit: Sam Mooy
Manly’s dip in form, along with that of Cherry-Evans, has coincided with revelations he won’t be at the club beyond this season. Like Trbojevic, “DCE” has been overlooked for Origin after being dropped following game one.
Seibold said that, as partly of weekly “campfire chats” in which individuals open up to the playing group, Cherry-Evans had explained his reasons for finishing up at the Sea Eagles.
“I thought ‘Chez’ explained and summed it up really well,” Seibold said.
“He wanted to give the club plenty of time to find a replacement, which we were able to do – find a really high quality replacement because Chez has been the No.7 here for such a long time – 14 and 15 seasons and done a fabulous job.
“And he just wants some time to work out what he wants to do next. I don’t see how there’s anything sinister around that. People have always got opinions. Some people might want him to come out and say it, some people don’t. Ultimately, it doesn’t affect how we prepare to play the West Tigers and that’s all my focus is on – how we prepare and play ball tomorrow night.”
Seibold denied reports that he had spoken to Cherry-Evans about the prospect of stripping him of the captaincy.
“Never, not once. I’ve never thought about that,” Seibold said.
“I don’t make decisions lightly and if you look at a couple of case studies, the last person in Chez’s position to say that he’s not going to stay at a club was Adam Reynolds’ in 2021 and Souths stayed the course with Adam; he was their skipper, he did a great job and they ended up making the grand final.
“I don’t see the need to change. Chez is our leader. I’ve said that publicly a number of times. So I’m not sure where that suggestion has come from.”
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