New Manly coach Anthony Seibold has admitted he regrets making a “business decision” to move from the Rabbitohs to the Broncos on a five-year deal that was doomed to fail.
Seibold led the Rabbitohs to a top four finish and a preliminary final in his first year as an NRL head coach in 2018, before leaving to join the Broncos in a switch that sent Wayne Bennett to Redfern.
While he made the finals in his first year at Brisbane, the Broncos were thumped 58-0 in week one of the finals, before picking up the wooden spoon in his second year in charge.
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Seibold didn’t even see out two of his five seasons at the club after mutually agreeing to part ways with the Broncos with three years remaining on his deal.
Speaking on James Graham’s The Bye Round Podcast, Seibold said his decision to leave the Rabbitohs was a poor one driven by business rather than footy.
“I do regret it,” he said.
“I made a business decision in the end. Ultimately, it proved to be the wrong decision.
“But the way I looked at it was it was an opportunity to set up not just my family, but my wider family for life, through the deal that was offered to me.
“It was a five-year deal with the sixth year in my favour. Very lucrative.
“I said ‘no’ a couple of times but then another year kept getting added, and it got to the point where I felt as though if I didn’t take it, it’s probably negligent in some way.”
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Seibold believes the fact he replaced Brisbane’s greatest ever coach Wayne Bennett, who was driven out of the club meant he was on a hiding to nothing from the start.
“I regret it heaps, but then maybe I wouldn’t be the coach I am today if I didn’t go through that experience of so much media exposure (that came with) going to Brisbane,” Seibold said.
“Replacing the legend of Wayne at the Broncos, the criticism of the old boys of me coming to the club and the noise that was always there (was difficult).”
However, Seibold believes his ability to lead a young Broncos team to the finals in 2019 trumped his charge to the preliminary final with Souths a year earlier.
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“I thought making the finals with that Brisbane team in 2019 was a bigger … and more successful coaching story than the previous year (at South Sydney),” he said.
“The reason I say that is we debuted 11 guys that year.
“It was just the way we bowed out; we got beaten 58-0 in the finals. It was just horrible.”
Seibold couldn’t understand how that Broncos team went from beating the Eels 17-16 a fortnight earlier before going on to suffer the biggest finals defeat in Brisbane’s history.
“I didn’t see it coming,” Seibold said.
“We beat that Parramatta side 17-16 two weeks earlier. So, do you lose your talent in two weeks? Do you lose your fitness or your contact ability in two weeks? You don’t.
“Obviously, something mentally wasn’t quite right there for whatever reason.
“But to make the finals from where we came from … when you look at it now and where the Broncos have been since, it was actually a pretty decent year for that group.”
If Seibold had his time again he would still make the decision to blood all those youngsters, believing it was in the best interest of the team and the squad the Broncos had going forward.
However, he admits that he would have done more to keep the history and identity of the club closer to his decision making.
“I still would blood all the young kids,” he said.
“I was heavily criticised for giving Tommy Dearden his debut and I was heavily criticised for making Pat Carrigan captain at 20 years of age. But if you look at where they are now … I could see that.
“What would I do different?
“I made a lot of changes. Probably didn’t keep some of the DNA of the club. So, that would be one thing.
“Some of the senior players, for instance. Maybe I could have handled them a little bit differently.”
Despite his spectacular fall form grace in his last head coaching position, Seibold holds no scars as he begins his shot at NRL redemption with the Sea Eagles.
“Looking back now, it seems a little bit surreal,” he said.
“It seems like a lifetime ago, even though it was only a couple of years ago.
“But I feel like I’m a better coach and even a better person.
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“It was tough at the time, and I can see why people criticised me externally, but that’s life and you get on with it.
“I know that I can get through that really tough, turbulent time where you’re not just on the back page but you’re actually on the front page, too.
“I feel like I’ve shown that I can bring groups together. I’ve also shown that if you make some mistakes and you’re a bit cloudy with some of your decision making then it can really go badly for you.
“I feel as though I am a resource to the group and a servant to the group. Not everyone would agree with that, but when you’re a teacher or a coach, you’re there to serve the group.”
