Anthony Seibold rolls out sub-woofers as new Red Hill era begins

The techno-logical age has arrived at Red Hill with new Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold introducing sub-woofers, thumping beats and motivational music to inspire Broncos troops for their 2019 tilt.

Alex Glenn was impressed with the introduction of music during training. (AAP Image/Josh Woning)

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For 30 years, they were Bennett’s Broncos.

Now they are the Boombox Broncos.

The techno-logical age has arrived at Red Hill with new Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold introducing sub-woofers, thumping beats and motivational music to inspire Broncos troops for their 2019 premiership tilt.

Broncos stars could have been forgiven for thinking they had strolled into Brisbane nightclub Cloudland on Thursday as their training session resembled a Red Hill rave party.

“This is right up my alley bro’,” said Broncos back-rower Alex Glenn with a beaming smile as he trained shirtless just metres from a large black speaker sitting beside the Broncos gymnasium.

Alex Glenn was impressed with the introduction of music during training. (AAP Image/Josh Woning)

Clearly, Seibold is not afraid to call his own tune at Red Hill, but there is a method to the perceived musical madness.

Many NFL clubs in American Football regularly use techno music at training to energise their players.

It was a regular occurrence this year at Seibold’s former club the Rabbitohs, whose players used the deafening decibels and up-tempo beats to help them push through the pain of pre-season.

Now Red Hill is alive with the sound of music.

Anthony Seibold introduced sub-woofers to Brisbane training. Picture: Peter Wallis

There are new faces, new training drills, new attitudes, new expectations and a new chorus of confidence driving the Brisbane Broncos.

Within minutes of Broncos players running onto the training paddock, one of Seibold’s assistants wheeled out a massive speaker and hit the play button.

Loud techno music suddenly blared across Red Hill.

Bennett, a country-and-western man who hated using whistles at training, would have choked on his All Bran.

For most of the 90 minute session, Broncos players trained to the backdrop of high-octane beats straight from the Ministry of Sound Mega Mix.

The music would temporarily stop when players did specific tactical drills.

When they started with basic running drills and conditioning work, the disco-tech returned.

The boombox is expected to be at Broncos training every week next year. Some will ridicule the move. But it worked for Seibold at Souths last season and, perhaps most importantly, Broncos players are buying into it.

Matt Lodge secured his future with the club on Thursday. (AAP Image/Josh Woning)

“It’s festival season, the boys are getting ready,” prop Matt Lodge said of the techno music.

“I liked it.

“It’s better than running to headnoise, it gets the boys going, there’s a bit of energy and we were pushing it to the limit out there. Anything helps.

“That’s my style of music. Darius (Boyd, skipper) likes a bit of hard and fast music, just as long as we aren’t running to anything slow.”

Asked what the 68-year-old Bennett would think of the ear-splitting beats, Lodge said: “Wayne would have a different playlist to this. A bit of country music I think.

“We didn’t do this last year. The new trainer Paul Devlin is a fan of this (music at training), so I’m happy to run with it.

“It’s something everyone does.

“When people go for a run, you put headphones in and listen to music so this is like having a giant set of headphones for everyone.”

The playing group appear to have taken a liking to Seibold. Picture: Peter Wallis

Techno aside, there is a palpable new feel to the Broncos. Any ghosts of Bennett’s reign have been quickly exorcised.

Seibold’s army of new assistants are slick, organised and no-nonsense.

Seibold was in the thick of the action, looking confident and content in the driver’s seat.

Traditionally, the Broncos don’t touch a football until the New Year. On Thursday, the Steedens were out. Broncos players ran set pieces. Five-eighth Anthony Milford, recovering from shoulder surgery, repeatedly worked alone on his left-to-right passing.

For Seibold to have success, he will need Broncos players, many of whom were loyal to Bennett, on board.

Judging by Thursday’s events, Seibold has struck a chorus with the group.

“It’s a lot different,” Lodge said.

“I’ve worked with Seibs before, he was a coach when I was down in Melbourne. He has changed the way we do things here, as you saw at training, the tempo is up and it’s a bit different, we are training really hard.

“I’m not here to be a cross-country runner or a track athlete, I’m a big fan of getting the ball in our hands and working on skills.

“We’re training at above game speed, but we have a long way to go with our skills.

“We have a young team and everyone needs to improve ... hopefully we can get some benefit.”

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