Matty Johns column: Anthony Seibold is following Craig Bellamy’s career path to mastery
SOUTH Sydney need Friday night’s game against the Melbourne Storm because they desperately need the challenge, writes Matty Johns.
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SOUTH Sydney need Friday night’s game against the Melbourne Storm because they desperately need the challenge.
The Bunnies went on a nine-game winning run, but by wins eight and nine, you could see the loss coming.
Their football was still attractive, but it lacked the killer instinct that victories at the start of the winning streak contained.
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Last Saturday’s tight win over Parramatta showed me a team that is treading water.
Melbourne, on the other hand, have been consistently gritty this season, but typically as September approaches, they are starting to go from warm to red hot.
There are some great clashes on Friday night, but none better than the battle of the coaches.
Craig Bellamy and Anthony Seibold have a lot in common; their football educations are close to identical.
Bellamy learnt his football in the Canberra Raiders system, which has produced an enormous amount of NRL coaches in the past 15 years.
The Raiders taught their players the science of rugby league football: how to break down a defence with skill and tactical planning.
When Bellamy left the Raiders, he captain/coached in Wagga Wagga and had a stint with English club Swinton (close to Manchester), where he could use the tactics and principles learnt from the likes of Tim Sheens.
Bellamy, of course, then moved to the Brisbane Broncos as Wayne Bennett’s assistant coach. Under Bennett, Bellamy learnt the skill of man-management.
While the Raiders taught science, the Broncos taught peak performance — the knowledge of how to get a player “up” and performing to the best of his ability every week.
Bellamy has taken principles of both these clubs and applied them to his Melbourne Storm team.
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Like Bellamy, Seibold’s football education can be traced from the Broncos and the Raiders.
Seibold spent three years as a young player in Bennett’s Broncos system before moving to the Canberra Raiders for two seasons playing alongside the likes of Laurie Daley, Rickey Stuart and Bradley Clyde.
In the 2000s, Seibold split his time between the UK Super League and Queensland Cup before moving into coaching roles, where, crucially, he got to work alongside John Dixon at the Celtic Crusaders in Wales for a number of seasons.
John Dixon worked for a number of years as Wayne Bennett’s right-hand man at the Broncos during one of their most successful periods and although his name won’t be recognised by the majority, he has a reputation as a great tactical thinker.
Bellamy and Seibold’s paths finally crossed when Seibold moved to the Storm as Bellamy assistant for three seasons in 2012.
I once asked Seibold what he learnt from Bellamy. He answered, “Work ethic.”
He’s needed every bit of that work ethic after taking the Rabbitohs’ head coaching role.
If Souths football were a house, I’d say Anthony Seibold has knocked it down and done a total rebuild.
He watched the success of the Melbourne Storm in 2017 and saw how they were rewarded for changing key principles in their attack: less structure, a 9, 6, 7 and 1 who can swap roles among themselves, less set-up plays, the ability to play sideline to sideline.
Seibold saw it all and went to work.
He worked hard on changing Souths’ attacking principles to suit the changing game. He worked hard convincing the playmakers to loosen the structure.
He worked hard implementing training drills that conditioned his footballers to feel comfortable playing to visual opportunities.
The Rabbitohs started the season a little shaky, adjusting to their new style of football, but once they found their rhythm and confidence, it’s been very much a stress-free campaign.
The Bunnies cruised along nicely through the mid-season, but the time for cruising is over, it’s time to take things up a level.
Friday night, Souths will get a true indication of exactly how well they are placed, and one way or another this dose of reality has arrived at exactly the right time.