NRL 2020: Brisbane Broncos salary cap crunch; Anthony Seibold’s Newcastle Knights nightmare
The Brisbane Broncos dealt a fresh blow in bid to rebound from horror 2020 season and there’s more bad news for Anthony Seibold.
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Former Brisbane Broncos coach Anthony Seibold’s moves to return to the NRL appear to have collapsed at the final hurdle.
Sport Confidential can reveal Seibold was in talks to take on an assistant coach’s role alongside Adam O’Brien in Newcastle.
But Knights powerbrokers have gone cold on the idea and are expected to veto the move following Seibold’s drama-charged exit from the Broncos.
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Seibold and O’Brien have a close relationship, having worked together at the Melbourne Storm, and are also both managed by controversial agent Isaac Moses.
O’Brien is looking to beef-up his support staff following Newcastle’s week one finals exit and he viewed Seibold as a worthy addition to his football department.
However it doesn’t look like the move will eventuate.
Seibold has kept far from a low profile since receiving a $1.5 million payout to leave the Broncos with more than three years remaining on his five-year contract.
He went on a media PR blitz when he left the Broncos, sold his Paddington home for $2.3 million and moved back to Sydney within weeks.
Seibold appeared on 60 Minutes as part of a story about cyber bullying and his high-profile investigation into online rumours has died after police ruled out further action.
Seibold is expected to pop up somewhere in the game but it’s looking unlikely to be Newcastle as imagined.
WAYNE AND CAM’S BROMANCE
A new “bromance” has blossomed in Camp Maroon on the Gold Coast over the past week.
Queensland coach Wayne Bennett and Melbourne star Cameron Munster have struck up a tight bond during their first camp together.
Munster may have been late to join the camp after a few big days of partying on the Sunshine Coast following Melbourne’s grand final win.
But he has made up for lost time with Bennett, with the two becoming card buddies and getting along like a house on fire.
Bennett and Munster are a great example of how opposites attract.
Bennett is a teetotaller while Munster is a renowned party boy and was the king of Melbourne’s grand final celebrations.
But Bennett has taken a liking to Munster’s larrikin nature and their bond was there to see when Channel 9’s dressing room cameras captured the Maroons No.6 perform some sort of “dry hump hug” on Bennett when he walked back into the sheds after Queensland’s epic Origin I win.
Bennett laughed off Munster’s moves but it proved how popular the Maroons mentor is with his players.
TITANS TO STAR ON FILM
Maroons Origin heroes AJ Brimson, Phil Sami and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui will feature in a special sporting documentary on the Gold Coast Titans.
Maroons coach Wayne Bennett may have said no to an Origin doco on the Queensland team but that won’t stop the Titans inviting film crews to capture exclusive footage of their 2021 pre-season.
Sporting documentaries have become all the rage. The Last Dance, a behind-the-scenes look at the success of the Chicago Bulls during Michael Jordan’s golden reign, was a worldwide hit on Netflix.
There was also the release of The Test on Amazon Prime, a fly-on-the-wall insight into the Australian cricket team as Justin Langer tried to pick up the pieces from the ball-tampering scandal.
Now the Titans want to take rugby league fans into their inner-sanctum following their promising fightback under rookie coach Justin Holbrook this year.
The idea is the brainchild of Titans corporate affairs and entertainment boss Scott Rollinson, with Gold Coast hierarchy having held positive discussions with Fox Sports.
Film crews will spend three months at Parkwood during the Titans’ upcoming pre-season.
The six-part series will focus on telling the stories of the club’s players, including gun fullback Brimson and new recruits David Fifita and Fa’asuamaleaui, as the Titans look to recover from their darkest days and wooden-spoon finish in 2019.
Holbrook has agreed to be part of the documentary, which will be screened on Kayo and Fox Sports in the lead-up to the 2021 premiership.
BRONCOS IN CAP SQUEEZE
Embattled Brisbane star Jack Bird is tipped to join the Dragons next season but his departure alone won’t ease the Broncos’ salary-cap pressures.
Sport Confidential understands Andrew McCullough’s impending return to Red Hill is a $600,000 headache new Broncos coach Kevin Walters must resolve before the 2021 season kicks off.
McCullough was released to Newcastle earlier this season, but under the terms of his Broncos contract, he had a 12-month option in his favour with Brisbane for next year.
The Broncos were hoping McCullough would play well enough this year to convince the Knights to retain him, but a season-ending hamstring tear leaves the 30-year-old in limbo.
The Broncos cannot afford to carry McCullough’s hefty salary on their books and are exploring options to offload the former Maroons rake.
Meanwhile, the injury-prone Bird, who is on a whopping $975,000, may have played his last game for the club with new Dragons coach Anthony Griffin interested in signing him.
Bird has done a medical assessment at the Dragons with a view to returning to NSW next year.
PRICE NOT RIGHT FOR COWBOY BENJI
Benji Marshall’s proposed move to the Cowboys is set to collapse due to the playmaking veteran’s asking price.
New Cowboys coach Todd Payten has been in talks with Marshall and is keen to sign him to a one-year deal, but the two parties are poles apart on the financial terms.
It is understood Marshall is seeking around $400,000 for a career swan song at the Cowboys. The 35-year-old has a lucrative media deal with Fox Sports in Sydney which could be jeopardised if he moves to Townsville.
Payten is a huge fan of Marshall – the pair played together in the Tigers‘ 2005 premiership win – but the Cowboys can only afford around $150,000 in their salary cap.
Cowboys playmaker Jake Clifford was originally given permission to leave but with Marshall unlikely to sign, North Queensland are now hoping to keep the 22-year-old.
Clifford, however, has interest from the Knights and remains keen on a fresh start in Newcastle.
WORST JOB IN THE NRL
The NRL has had zero applications to replace departed referees boss Bernard Sutton.
The NRL announced last Friday that Sutton would step down as referees’ boss after the current State of Origin series.
He has had a dramatic tenure in the role given he is the brother of whistleblowers Gerard and Chris Sutton.
The NRL’s referee ranks have regularly dealt with infighting and poor performance accusations arising from the constant refereeing dramas.
And it seems few people are willing to take on the job.
The NRL is in no rush to replace Sutton and is assessing options and a possible restructure to the department.
Who would want to take on what seems to be a thankless job?
DRINKWATER ON BRONCOS RADAR
The Cowboys have had to stave off subtle inquiries for classy playmaker Scott Drinkwater to join the Broncos.
Sport Confidential understands North Queensland fielded an approach from a third-party for Drinkwater to be released from his Cowboys deal to join arch rivals the Broncos.
Brisbane have major instability in their playmaking spine and under the plan, Drinkwater was viewed as a possible solution for the Broncos in their troublesome fullback position.
But the Cowboys have no intention of losing Drinkwater. The 23-year-old is off-contract at the end of 2021 and he did a fine job in the halves this year, winning player of the tournament in the Cowboys’ NRL Nines victory.
TITANS LOCK UP GOLD COAST
The Titans have made significant moves to secure their territory on the Gold Coast.
The Titans this week announced a formal partnership with renowned league nursery Palm Beach Currumbin High School.
The arrangement will see the Titans provide coaching expertise and programs to the school in the hope they will secure the best young talent on the coast.
PBC has produced the likes of NRL stars Darius Boyd, Ben Hannant, Kevin Proctor and Ryan James among many others.
MORE RUGBY LEAGUE NEWS
But the Titans for a long time missed out on top talent from the school as rival clubs signed them up.
That should not be the case any longer.
The Titans have also worked hard on their relationship with Keebra Park, another Gold Coast school that produces gun NRL players.
The likes of Benji Marshall, Ben Te’o, Payne Haas, AJ Brimson and David Fifita came through the Keebra system.
After years of missing out on the Gold Coast’s top kids, the Titans have made serious inroads to ensure that stops happening.
It should mean there is a steady flow of Gold Coast talent in the Titans’ NRL team for years to come.
DE BELIN STILL A WANTED MAN
Jack de Belin has not played NRL for two years due to sexual-assault allegations but rivals are eyeing off the Dragons and NSW Origin star.
A Sydney-based rival to the Dragons has a four-year, $2 million-plus contract ready to table if de Belin is eventually cleared to return to the NRL.
The Dragons forward has not appeared in first grade since September 2018 after being charged following his off-field matter, which is currently before the courts.
The Dragons recently confirmed there is a spot for him on their roster for next season, but that hasn’t stopped another NRL suitor hatching plans to poach de Belin, who turns 30 next year.
NRL CLUB’S CIVIL WAR
Which NRL coach and high-ranking official at a top-eight club are locked in a savage internal feud? The pair can’t bear to talk to each other and it is a toxic high-level issue for the finals outfit.