The team behind NRL's Coach of the Year
Rockhampton's Anthony Seibold 'really humbled' by illustrious honour
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RUGBY LEAGUE: Rockhampton's Anthony Seibold has dedicated his Dally M Coach of the Year award to his hard-working players and staff.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs coach beat a hot field that included grand final coaches Trent Robinson (Sydney Roosters) and Craig Bellamy (Melbourne Storm) to claim the illustrious honour at NRL's night of nights in Sydney.
Fellow Rockhampton product Cameron Munster was also in the winner's circle, taking out Five-eighth of the Year.
Seibold, 43, inspired an incredible form reversal at the Rabbitohs in his first year at the helm, taking them from 12th last season to third this year and to the club's first preliminary final since 2014.
It was a fitting reward for the journeyman who served an 11-year apprenticeship at clubs in Australia and the UK before realising his dream of becoming an NRL head coach.
Speaking to The Morning Bulletin, Seibold said he was "really humbled” by the award but was quick to acknowledge the efforts of those around him.
"It's probably dedicated to the players and the staff and how hard we've worked this year as a team more so than me as an individual but I'm really humbled by it,” he said.
In his acceptance speech, Seibold thanked the club's management, ownership and board, his assistant coaches Dave Furner, Willie Peters and Peter Gentle and the players, in particular the leadership group of Greg Inglis, John Sutton and Sam Burgess.
He also acknowledged the incredible support of his wife Holly and his three daughters who "had to move to three different countries and multiple cities” to allow him to advance his coaching career.
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Seibold said winning the award was not something that had factored into his thinking.
"The only thing I was determined about was providing a really positive program here at the Bunnies and for us to find some improvement; that's all I was looking at when I took over the team,” he said.
"We finished 12th and 13th the last two seasons and we didn't have a whole heap of players.
"We knew we were going to have to work really hard, work really smart and be really consistent if we wanted to move up the table and ultimately finishing third was a really positive season.
"We would have liked to have been in the grand final this weekend. We'd beaten the Roosters and the Storm throughout the season so to fall a game short, although our improvement was rapid, we still wanted to be alive this week and we're not.
"We're disappointed about that but proud of our improvement.”
Seibold said the Rabbitohs' dramatic turnaround came on the back of the players' hard work.
"We changed the way we played our football. I think everyone saw that with our attack - we scored the most points ever by a Rabbitohs team and we scored the most points in the competition this year,” he said.
"We made some dramatic changes to how we wanted to play our football. We changed up the training program and how we went about our preparation.
"The players were really consistent with the work they did and they wanted to get better most importantly.”
Seibold said the team's nine-game winning streak mid-season and the incredible development of individual players were highlights of the season.
"We won nine straight and it was the first time our club had done that since 1989, which was a great achievement for the group,” he said.
"I'm really proud of some of the other guys and the recognition they've got.
"Damien Cook's gone from being an interchange player/fringe first grader to Hooker of the Year, NSW Origin player and hopefully selected in the Kangaroos next week.
"Angus Crichton made his Origin debut this year, Tom and George Burgess both showed a whole heap of improvement, Cody Walker was outstanding throughout the year for us and John Sutton had a good year.
"There were a lot of individuals who improved this year and that's what I most got out of it, just the improvement in the players and to see some of them get some individual accolades is great.
"I'm in a privileged position to be able to work with those guys. I just want to provide an environment that they can excel in and get better in.”
Originally published as The team behind NRL's Coach of the Year
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