Anthony Seibold returns serve in his war of words with Rabbitohs assistant Jason Demetriou
Broncos coach Anthony Seibold has fired back at Rabbitohs assistant Jason Demetriou’s criticism of his finals record ahead of a fiery grudge match on Friday night.
Broncos
Don't miss out on the headlines from Broncos. Followed categories will be added to My News.
STAR SPEAKS: Oates “relieved” when Bennett left
Broncos coach Anthony Seibold has launched a savage attack on Souths assistant Jason Demetriou as the Brisbane-Bunnies grudge match exploded ahead of Friday night’s return bout at Suncorp Stadium.
Demetriou, Wayne Bennett’s right-hand man, questioned Seibold’s ability to deliver in finals football, pointing out Souths scored just one try in their last two finals games on his watch last season.
Demetriou and Seibold were both interviewed for the Broncos job to succeed Bennett last year with the NRL’s reigning coach of the year winning the post, with Demetriou following Bennett to Redfern.
The Bennett-Demetriou alliance has an unblemished 3-0 winning record over Seibold but the Broncos coach hit back today, claiming Demetriou’s flawed analysis is why he doesn’t have a head-coaching job.
“He has forgotten a couple of things and that’s probably why he isn’t a head coach at the moment,” Seibold fired.
Stream the 2019 NRL Telstra Premiership on KAYO SPORTS. Every game of every round Live & On-Demand on your TV, computer, mobile or tablet. Get your 14 day free trial.
“He should worry about his own team. Don’t worry about my finals record. I can’t believe we are sitting here talking about Jason Demetriou leading up to a Broncos versus South Sydney game.
“With regards to Jason, one thing I learned a long time ago is that as an assistant coach you put your head down and your bum up and you work hard.
“You don’t need to promote yourself.
LISTEN! In this week’s episode of the Matty Johns Podcast, Matty, Kenty and Finchy look at the challenge confronting the Knights, name their team of the decade and ask who wins an NRL coaches fight night.
Subscribe to the Matty Johns podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Podcasts.
“I am not sure if he is dirty that his name hasn’t come up for a few head coaching roles or not, but I will say this – Jason’s attention to detail is a little bit off with some of the comments that I believe he made.
“He obviously forgot about the 28 points that South Sydney scored last year in the first final against the Melbourne Storm.
“If I reflect back on the last two games he’s been involved in with semi-final footy, he was part of a team that got beaten 30-0 against Melbourne (in 2017) and part of the team that was beaten 48-18 (by the Dragons last year).
“My advice to Jason would be to work hard and let your work do the promotion for yourself.”
During his job interview for the Broncos post last year, Demetriou put up a power point graphic comparing his and Seibold’s coaching records.
Demetriou has won four lower-grade titles. Seibold has not won a premiership at any level.
Asked if there was any bad blood between the pair, Seibold said: “I don’t know him from a bar of soap.
“I don’t know who Jason is to be fair. You guys know as I do that he likes to promote himself and tell you how good his statistics are. I’ll let him do that.
“As I said I got the advice a long time ago when I first started in this game that as a lower-grade coach you put your head down, work hard and your opportunities will come so I am not sure where that (his attack) came from.
“His attention to detail is a bit off. I don’t really care.
“I think he has got bigger problems at Souths than having a look at my finals record.”
It is understood Demetriou and Rabbitohs insiders are furious at Seibold’s comment last week that “not a lot has changed at Souths this year”.
A Rabbitohs faction viewed that as Seibold big-noting himself after steering Souths to the top four last season, prompting Sam Burgess to accuse the Broncos coach of running “bizarre” agendas.
But Seibold qualified his statement.
“First of all, with regard to the comment I think you are talking about, it was last week in the press conference (after Brisbane’s 24-12 defeat of Penrith),” Seibold said.
“I was actually giving South Sydney a wrap when I said they throw a lot at you and a lot hasn’t changed there.
“I meant that Cody Walker is in the top two or three attacking players in the competition, Damien Cook is dynamic out of dummy half and Adam Reynolds has the best kicking game in the competition, so I was actually giving their team a wrap.
“They outplayed us (in round eight when Souths won 38-6). They were far too good for us, you can’t hide behind that fact. Maybe Jason was coaching that week.”
Seibold confirmed Corey Oates (hamstring) will take his place on the wing and said the return of key duo Matt Gillett and Alex Glenn will stiffen Brisbane’s defence.
“A little bit of experience certainly helps us with having such a young group,” he said. “Although Gillo hasn’t played for a little while now his work ethic and experience will certainly be good for us.
“His return is a big plus. ‘Lexi’ has come back and trained really solid.
“The table suggests we are a finals team, we wouldn’t be seventh if we weren’t in contention for that, whether we stay there is up to us.
“We will get what we deserve, if we are willing to work hard at training, regardless of the result on Friday night, we will give ourselves an opportunity.
“We want to be a team that goes through to the finals but so do all 16 teams. There’s 10 or 11 teams in contention and we are one of those teams so we are doing our best.”
Originally published as Anthony Seibold returns serve in his war of words with Rabbitohs assistant Jason Demetriou