Coach Anthony Seibold wants fresh attitude from Broncos players

Anthony Seibold wants a fresh attitude from Brisbane, admitting no player can take his position for granted as he tries to bridge the gap between the squad’s best and worst performances.

Coach Anthony Seibold watches over a Broncos pre-season training session. Picture: AAP

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New Broncos coach Anthony Seibold has put his Brisbane stars on notice, insisting the squad needs to find a harder edge in performance to break the longest premiership drought in the club’s history.

Seibold was shocked to receive the loudest cheer at Brisbane’s annual fan day at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday — emphatic evidence Broncos supporters have embraced change in the post-Wayne Bennett era.

Now Seibold wants a fresh attitude in the change room, admitting no Broncos player can take his position for granted as he tries to bridge the gap between the squad’s best and worst performances.

Brisbane had the class to beat top-four sides the Roosters, Sharks and Souths twice last season, only to crash out in the first week of the finals with a dismal 48-18 drubbing against the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium.

Seibold clinched the NRL coach of the year award last season by bringing razor-sharp consistency to the Rabbitohs and he says he won’t tolerate erratic fluctuations as Brisbane chase their first title since 2006.

“Absolutely, that’s our whole program (being consistent),” he said.

Coach Anthony Seibold watches over a Broncos pre-season training session. Picture: AAP

“If you look at individuals and look at the team collectively last year, on their best day the Broncos were nine out of 10, on their worst day they were three or four out of 10.

“That comes down to individuals and the collective group.

“We need to close the gap.

“The only way I know how to do it is to be consistent at training. We’ve still got some inconsistencies across the group but what we are working hard towards is closing that gap.

“The players are aware they need to sweep the floor every single day. If you don’t sweep the floor every day at home in the kitchen, by Wednesday and Thursday it is going to be dirty.

“But if we sweep the floor every day, it will be a clean kitchen. That’s my mentality to training.

“We can’t stand still, we have to keep working hard to improve.”

Brisbane’s 2019 squad were unveiled one by one to Broncos fans at Suncorp. But the rousing crowd reception wasn’t for Tevita Pangai Jnr or $1 million man Anthony Milford.

When Seibold took to the stage, Brisbane fans roared as one.

“I wasn’t sure if I would get that,” he said.

“Hopefully this time next year I get the loudest cheer as well.

“It’s the first opportunity for me to meet a lot of the members. The least I can do is shake a few people’s hands and introduce myself and spend some time with the fans.

“For me personally, to come back home to Queensland and the Broncos was the right choice. It wasn’t an easy decision by any means, certainly a lot of emotion was attached to that decision, but it’s humbling to be warmly welcomed by the members.

“They are counting down the days to see the guys represent their club and we are preparing the best we can.”

The Broncos will begin their run to the 2019 premiership season with a trial in Warwick this Saturday night. Seibold says he has a fair idea of his top 17, but admits a couple of jumpers are still up for grabs.

“I want to see actions at training and actions in our trial games,” he said.

“The way I model our training, we have a depth chart and players know where they stand in the depth chart.

“If you are working hard at training, there is an opportunity to jump ahead of someone. If someone jumps ahead, you go down the pecking order, but I have a pretty good feel for what I feel the shape of the team looks like.”

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