Anthony Seibold: Razor-sharp teacher vows to lead Brisbane Broncos his own way
Anthony Seibold would have happily settled for a career as a university lecturer. Now he finds himself with one of the toughest jobs in Australian sport.
Anthony Seibold would have happily settled for a career as a university lecturer.
Today, he finds himself with one of the toughest jobs in Australian sport — succeeding Wayne Bennett at the Brisbane Broncos.
The most toxic coaching saga in Brisbane’s 30-year history finally came to a halt yesterday with the stunning sacking of Bennett, clearing the path for Seibold to call the shots at Red Hill immediately.
He will become just Brisbane’s fourth coach in their glittering history.
And while Seibold is born and bred in Rockhampton, the 44-year-old father of three is barely known to most Queenslanders. While Bennett is one of the most recognisable figures in the state, Seibold could stroll down Queen Street Mall barely attracting a second glance.
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By rugby league standards, Seibold is still considered a coaching rookie given he has only one year of NRL experience under his belt following his successful 2018 season with the Rabbitohs. But he is so highly rated across the game that the Broncos view him as the right person to replace Bennett — a man who was once his mentor.
So influential was the 68-year-old on Seibold that he still has old game plans belonging to Bennett from when he trained under him as a Brisbane reserve grade player in the early-1990s.
But Seibold will be no Bennett clone. University-educated, articulate and driven by an academic thirst for knowledge, Seibold has enormous respect for Bennett’s six premierships at the Broncos, but has the conviction to do things his way at Red Hill.
“I certainly don’t feel pressure following in Wayne’s footsteps,” Seibold told The Courier-Mail recently following his appointment for the 2020 season, fast-tracked by 12 months after Bennett’s shock sacking yesterday.
“He has a legacy there at the Broncos, but I’m my own coach. I don’t know how Wayne does things, but I will do things my way.
“To be fair, I respect Wayne enormously and what he has done in the game.
“He has had a career that potentially will never be surpassed in some ways.
“I encountered the same sort of thing at Souths with ‘Madge’ (Michael Maguire, Seibold’s premiership-winning predecessor). I’ve just done things my way at Souths and I’m happy to be judged on how I do things, rather than being compared to others.”
Bennett’s influence at the Broncos is enormous.
He has coached Brisbane for 25 of their 31 seasons and the club has never known premiership success without the man crowned the NRL’s greatest mentor by the Men of League Foundation in 2011.
That puts enormous pressure on Seibold to succeed, but his long and winding journey to the NRL has instilled the resilience required to flourish in the Broncos hot seat.
A deep thinker, Seibold made a formidable statement in his first year of NRL coaching at South Sydney this year, steering the Rabbitohs into the top four before finishing one win shy of the grand final.
Seibold’s stunning transformation of the Rabbitohs saw him named the NRL’s Coach of the Year at the Dally M Awards.
He has learnt his trade from the best in the business, including Melbourne Storm super coach Craig Bellamy and former South Sydney mentor Maguire.
He has travelled across Australia and over to Britain to be the best he can be and holds a Masters of Education.
But it was in the Queensland town of Rockhampton, 616km north of Brisbane, where the seeds for his passion for rugby league were sown.
“I loved watching the old Broncos and Queensland Origin players,” Seibold said.
“Guys like Wally Lewis, Andrew Gee, Allan Langer and Kevvie Walters were my heroes, as a young bloke I loved watching them play.
“I had real respect for those guys. Like anyone growing up in Queensland, a lot of the legends like Wally rubbed off on me. I was a typical country bloke who loved watching State of Origin.”
Seibold was involved with rugby league from a young age, playing junior footy with Rockhampton Brothers and St Brendan’s College before he graduated to the Broncos.
A well-built forward with good skills, Seibold played for the Broncos’ reserves in the early 1990s alongside the likes of wing sensation Wendell Sailor, but he failed to play first grade due to the club’s posse of Origin and Test stars.
His playing career also involved stints with the Canberra Raiders and English clubs, Hull Kingston Rovers and London Broncos, before he opted for a career in academia.
“I did two degrees,” he said. “I did a bachelor of teaching and a masters of education.
“I was happy to be a university lecturer. For me teaching is like rugby league coaching — there are many transferable skills. The big thing for me is I always had an interest in helping people improve and that whet my appetite to coach.”
Seibold’s coaching career began in 2006 as an assistant for Wales club, the Celtic Crusaders, a newly-developed side that competed in Britain’s lower grades before pushing for promotion to the Super League in 2009. From there he travelled to Mackay, Melbourne and Manly before he landed himself the assistant coaching job with the Rabbitohs in 2017, which led to his NRL breakthrough this year.
Seibold was also an assistant to Kevin Walters with the Queensland State of Origin side in 2016-17, but he is forever looking for an edge by tapping into knowledge beyond rugby league.
He has picked the brain of award-winning documentary maker Todd Sampson, talks to fashion designers and regularly speaks with former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.
Now Seibold hopes decades of accrued wisdom has him ready to fill Bennett’s throne in the Broncos hot seat.
“I have learned in every situation, whether they have been positive or negative experiences,” he said.
“Craig Bellamy was a terrific mentor to me in my three years at the Storm and I have connected with so many good people. I am forever trying to engage creative thinkers and look outside the box in search of better ideas.
“It’s a big world out there. It’s an honour to be coaching the Broncos and it will be great to go back home to Queensland.”
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