Broncos coach Anthony Seibold defends the club’s culture following another off-field incident

Broncos coach Anthony Seibold has broken his silence on the Izaia Perese arrest and defended the club’s culture following a horror 12-month period of off-field troubles for Brisbane.

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 11: Coach Anthony Seibold gives direction during a Brisbane Broncos NRL training session on February 11, 2020 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

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Broncos coach Anthony Seibold has broken his silence over the Izaia Perese incident and has defended the club’s culture amid a spate of off-field incidents.

Perese became the fourth Broncos player in the past 12 months to become involved in off-field drama, when the 22-year-old was charged by police last weekend for a raft of drug offences.

He has been stood down indefinitely by the club and is due to appear in court on March 9 on four different drug charges.

It follows after Joe Ofahengaue, David Fifita and James Segeyaro have also faced police-related matters in the past few months.

However, Seibold today strongly defended the club’s culture and admitted he was proud of the way the club had handled the challenges.

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Perese was hit with a spate of drug charges. Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images.

“At the end of the day, players make decisions,” Seibold said.

“Sometimes they’re the right ones, sometimes they’re the wrong ones.

“One thing I am proud of is how we’ve dealt with Izzy Perese’s situation.

“We’ve seen in 12 months here, you might say there’s been a few incidents. We deal with it. We deal with it openly. We deal with it quickly. I’m proud of how the club has dealt with that particular situation (Perese).

“I’m sure that there’s going to be other hurdles and challenges presented but we’ll deal with individually and as best we can.

“We’re not perfect and we don’t expect people to be perfect.”

The club has also been rocked by news star forward Matt Lodge may have suffered a season-ending knee injury at training on Tuesday.

Seibold has defended the culture at the Broncos. AAP Image/Glenn Hunt.

Seibold this morning said he will definitely miss the opening rounds of the 2020 season as he deals with a partial tear of his ACL.

Despite the rollercoaster week for the club, Seibold said the playing group were still remaining positive.

“We went to dinner together on Tuesday night,” he said.

“The group is humming about. Izzy’s situation, we’ve spoken about it very briefly as a group.

“(Then) obviously when you think one of your teammates are out for the season, we’ve actually come in with a real buzz today with news in and around Lodgey being positive.

“There’s a spring in the guys’ step.

The Broncos have endured a tough off-season. Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images.

“One thing I’ve noticed with the group, there’s been a few challenges thrown their way over the last couple of months but they’re handling it well.”

The Broncos are preparing for a trial match against the Cowboys on Saturday night and Seibold was adamant the players will not be distracted by the off-field issues.

“With players in and around this age, they’re in some ways going to be representations of society,” he said.

“There’s been a couple (of incidents) but I know there’s a good group of guys in there.

“Everyone makes mistakes so we’ll learn from them and move on.

“There’s a lot of scrutiny in and around if you’re an NRL player. Any mistake is magnified in some way.”