Anthony Seibold joins Eddie Jones to chase Rugby World Cup glory with England
Former Broncos coach Anthony Seibold will switch codes next season after receiving an offer “too good to knock back” from England rugby coach Eddie Jones.
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Anthony Seibold is ready to take a step back from rugby league and redirect his energies into helping Eddie Jones win a Rugby World Cup for England.
Seibold, on the Newcastle coaching staff as a consultant this season and more recently the man who has helped the Knights solidify their defence, will join Jones’ staff through to the 2023 World Cup in France.
The pair forged a relationship when Seibold was at South Sydney – Jones is a rabid Rabbitohs fan. More recently, Seibold has played a consultancy role for Jones from afar.
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However, Jones offered Seibold the opportunity to take on more responsibility when his defensive coach John Mitchell, the former All Blacks mentor, opted to take the head coaching position at Wasps.
“It was too good to knock back,” Seibold said. “It really excites me the challenge of international rugby. I had a relationship with Eddie from my days coaching at South Sydney.
“About a month ago he called me out of the blue and asked what were my thoughts on coming on full time. He had been really impressed with the stuff I had done for them remotely. I had a good think about it.
“In the end there were a couple of things for me. One, Eddie is one of the leading coaches not just in rugby, but in the world. That was certainly something that attracted me to it.
“The other one was the challenge of the game, trying to work out the game and add something to the England team.”
Seibold started the year working three days a week for the Knights before taking up an expanded role over the past two months. In recent weeks, he has had a hands-on role in the defensive systems that have kept the Knights in contention.
Newcastle have conceded on average eight less points a game since Seibold upped his involvement at the request of head coach Adam O’Brien.
He remains a lightning rod for criticism, at times finding it hard to avoid references to his difficult time at the Brisbane Broncos, but it has been unwarranted this season given the role he has played in helping the Knights become a top eight side.
Asked whether he would be relieved to be out of the rugby league fishbowl, Seibold said: “Not at all. It wasn’t even a consideration.
“Every now and then my name pops up in the media for some reason. I can’t control the narrative. I think I have done a really good job for Newcastle this season.
“It is my 15th season as a coach. I think for the large majority of them I have had a lot of positive experiences. I am not going to let a small part of 2020 factor into what I do.
“Purely the challenge of rugby, the challenge of coaching a big international union like England, and purely the opportunity to work with Eddie were at the forefront (of my mind).
“This is going to challenge me, it is going to get me on my toes again. I worked under Craig Bellamy for three years. He is the best coach in rugby league.
“For me, Eddie is the best coach in rugby union. I am going to be challenged in that environment. At the end of the day I back myself even though it didn’t go well at the Broncos.”
His immediate priority is to help the Knights go deep in the finals. They have won seven of their past nine games and will play finals football, in large part thanks to Seibold’s input.
“I feel as though I have done my job over the past 10 weeks – back on the grass as a coach, specifically looking at the team defence,” Seibold said.
“I really enjoyed it. Whether it has whetted my appetite to be a head coach, that has not been in my thinking. I am not running away form the NRL, I am not running away from Australia.
“It is just too good an opportunity.”
IS HANNAY NRL’S GREATEST CARETAKER COACH?
—David Riccio
From menswear store owner to the NRL next coach in-waiting.
Interim Sharks coach Josh Hannay is 80-minutes away from finally erasing the ghosts of the Gymea Gorillas - while also shaking his self-described Nightwatchman tag.
In the eyes of many, the 41-year-old is already there.
Written-off, disregarded and their 2021 season declared a waste by fans after former Sharks head coach John Morris was sacked after five rounds, Cronulla can secure an unlikely finals berth - their ninth in the past 10-seasons - with victory over the Storm on Friday night.
And it’s the State of Origin centre who former Cronulla coach Ricky Stuart famously axed to park football with the Gorillas and who then turn to running Zoo Town, a menswear store in his Queensland home town of Moranbah, who has held the young Sharks together.
Sarcastically anointing himself as the NRL’s official ‘Nightwatchman’ on his first day as interim coach with the Sharks last April, after having already held the fort for the Cowboys for 10-games following the sacking of Paul Green last year, Hannay has emerged from the shadows as a future NRL coach.
If Hannay can take the injury-ravaged Sharks to the finals, he will achieve what no interim coach in the NRL-era has done before.
No other interim coach in the past 23-years has been asked to hold a team together for as many games (18) as Hannay - and still get them to the finals.
And Hannay - a rock-solid centre who debuted with the Cowboys at 16, played 150-games for the club and made two appearances for the Maroons - has corralled the Sharks into finals contention without $3.8 million worth of talent.
Missing for a large portion of the season have been captain Wade Graham (concussion), Matt Moylan (calf), Shaun Johnson (hamstring), Josh Dugan (outside bubble), Chad Townsend (released), Royce Hunt (leg), Andrew Fifita (larynx) and Ronaldo Mulitalo (jaw).
“It would be a reward for our fans and members and everyone involved,” Hannay said when asked what advancing to the finals would mean.
“It’s been a rugged year with a lot of challenges and adversity of all different shapes and sizes. It’s been a hard year, but a very satisfying year to see this group continually overcome challenges I speak of. In my opinion we deserve to get to the finals.”
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Hannay may never have been on the verge of his greatest coaching achievement if not for the Covid-19 pandemic with Morris originally eager to lure Toronto Wolfpack coach Brian McDermott to the Shire as his assistant coach for 2021.
“We tried, but that would’ve been virtually impossible from a visa point of view for that to happen,’’ Sharks CEO Dino Mezzatesta said.
“So Josh, with his history with the club, his work as a Queensland Origin assistant coach and the way he carried himself in the interim role with the Cowboys last year … he quickly became someone we wanted to talk to.
“And he’s been nothing but an absolute professional ever since.
“What Josh brings is an authenticity, no-nonsense approach with an attitude of always looking for a positive outcome.
“What we as a board and management want for our club is, to be not only a club that develops elite-level NRL players, but elite-level coaches.
“So if Josh, one day, goes onto that next step, that’s something we would be very proud of.”
Having knocked back an approach from the Broncos to work with Kevin Walters in 2022, Hannay will continue as an assistant coach alongside Craig Fitzgibbon next year.
He said the decision to lead the Sharks through the majority of the 2021 season was an easy one.
“I felt confident in my own ability to do the job and I felt in a short-space of time I’d built up a really good rapport with the playing group and the rest of the coaches,’’ Hannay said.
“At the time, that (Nightwatchman) comment felt appropriate, but I was also given a full season to take over and show my wares as a coach.
“And the subject was brought up that it would be a good opportunity to show that you can be more than just an interim coach.
“I’d like to think that I’ve been able to navigate this club and this playing group through a difficult period and that will hold me in good stead as far as people’s view of me and my ability to be a head coach long-term.
“One of the first promises I made to the group when I first took over was that I would be authentic and that the only thing I would ask back from them is to be authentic as well.
“That’s been really key from this young group and us as a collective putting ourselves in this position is we’ve been ourselves, we’ve worked really hard and even though there’s been some ups and downs, we haven’t wavered.
“I’m really confident this young group won’t waver tomorrow night and in the games to come.’’
SEASON SAVIOURS
2006 - Jason Taylor, Eels — 15 games plus 1 final
2009 - Rick Stone, Knights — 4 games plus 1 final
2018 - Cameron Ciraldo, Panthers — 6 games plus 2 finals
2021 - Josh Hannay, Sharks — 18 games
SHARKS CASUALTY WARD
Ronaldo Mulitalo - 16 games (broken jaw)
Matt Moylan - 14 games (calf)
Wade Graham - 11 games (concussion)
Chad Townsend - 11 games (Warriors)
Shaun Johnson - 10 games (hamstring)
Josh Dugan - 8 games (bubble breach)
Andrew Fifita - 6 games (larynx)
Royce Hunt - 2 games (leg)
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