Manly coach Anthony Seibold labelled his side’s performance against the Broncos “disappointing” and provided a shock update on five-eighth Josh Schuster.
The Sea Eagles were beaten 32-6 by a red-hot Brisbane outfit at Suncorp Stadium, giving away a 20-0 lead at halftime.
Tom Trbojevic was unable to inject himself in the game and the Broncos’ middle forwards Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan ran riot to lay the platform for Reece Walsh and Selwyn Cobbo.
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Speaking in the post-match press conference, Seibold didn’t shy away from the criticism but said his team will “bounce back”.
“It is disappointing because we thought we’d come up here a give a really good account of ourselves, and challenge the team sitting at the top of the table,” Seibold said.
“We just have got to keep working and keep building on the platform we’d made early in the season.
“It has been a disappointing two weeks but we will bounce back and keep chipping away.”
When asked about Trbojevic’s performance, Seibold defended his gun fullback who managed to record a try assist with three minutes left in the game.
Trbojevic sat out of the club’s Round 9 clash with a groin injury and had been dealing with a number of niggling issues in the weeks prior.
Manly Sea Eagles Press Conference | 07:22
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“It wasn’t so much of a comeback, he only had one week out but again we didn’t give him enough opportunities down their end of the field, until the second half,”
“But we probably got a little bit frustrated tonight, yeah… we put too much pressure on ourselves.”
“There’s a lot going well for the Broncos at the moment and they have us a good lesson in footy,” captain Daly Cherry-Evans added.
Meanwhile, Seibold was also questioned surrounding Josh Schuster’s availability after the young gun was stood down to work on his fitness and nurse a calf injury.
Questions were also raised during the week surrounding the 21-year-old’s discipline and rumours emerged the Tigers were looking at making a play for his services.
While it seemed Schuster was set for an extended period sidelined, Seibold said he could take the field as soon as Round 11.
“We’ve got a large group back home, Josh will be available from my understand for next week’s game so we will get a look at him tomorrow,”
“Josh in training tomorrow when we get back with the staff.
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“I will have a look at that (bringing him back next week), I will see how he is going in regards to his reconditioning.
“I think straight after the game, particularly when we made so many errors, to just take a breath and we get an opportunity to have a long turnaround.
“So we will check in with him tomorrow when we get back to Brooky. I’ve never said anything publicly about his attitude, that must be commentary outside the building.
“He’s had a calf injury and a quad injury to start the year so he hasn’t really got started.”
League legend Michael Ennis believes Schuster is the missing ingredient in Manly’s faltering attack.
However, Corey Parker wasn’t buying it and questioned how important the gun five-eighth is for the Sea Eagles.
“They just didn’t simply have the points in them… missing someone like Josh Schuster who unlocks Tom,” Ennis said.
“Is he that big of a deal for Manly Schuster? How many games has he played this season, two games,” Parker said.
“I think he is, I think their attack is noticeably better when he’s in the team.” Ennis replied.
