Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold drawing on the club’s great history to build a new future
SOUTH Sydney coach Anthony Seibold is building a new future for the Rabbitohs — by helping the foundation club reconnect with its rich history and tradition of steely resilience.
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IT’S pre-season and South Sydney coach Anthony Seibold is holding court in a Redfern pub with a group of former Rabbitohs players.
The legends, hand-picked by Seibold, include Sean Garlick, Mario Fenech, David Boyle and Les Davidson.
These men not only bleed red and green, but they personify the foundation club’s resilience and steely determination to defy the odds.
The players have all used life lessons from their struggles at Souths to become successful workers and businessmen post-football.
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It’s why Seibold invited the legends for lunch. He wanted to involve them in his plans for a new era at Souths in the hope their stories will inspire the playing group to success on the field.
Seibold started with a lunch, before organising a BBQ for the legends and players at South Maroubra prior to the start of the season.
This Saturday, more than 300 former players will mingle with the current red-and-green stars at an Old Boys function at Souths Leagues.
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Some of Souths’ finest hitters, including Charlie Frith, Mark Carroll and Ian Roberts, will join modern-day hardman Sam Burgess to share stories over a meal and a few beers.
Davidson, also known for his brutal tackling, has taken a day-in-lieu from his port job at Botany Bay to be there.
“People first — it’s what the club is all about,” the proud bush boy said down the phone before hanging in order to get to his next shift driving a shipping crane at Botany Bay.
According to ex-Bunnies halfback Willie Peters, now an assistant coach at Souths, involving some of the proud clubmen of the past is all part of Seibold’s plan to ingrain red-and-green core values in the next generation.
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“It’s about living by the Rabbitohs way,” Peters told League Central ahead of South Sydney’s match against Parramatta.
“That means you are an honest, trusting, hardworking and selfless person.
“For us as coaches, it is about educating the junior and senior players about what it means to be a Rabbitoh and how you conduct yourself every day.
“It is about making them better people.”
Peters is a prime example. He is using his rough years at Souths to inspire the club’s players in his role as an assistant and junior coach.
Peters, who played 38 games for the Rabbitohs in 97-98 and 03-04, recalls training sessions when players regularly cut their feet on stray sprinklers at a dated Redfern Oval.
He also remembers the poor results and lack of resources.
“But I wouldn’t change it for the world,” he said.
“That was South Sydney. “What we went through back then helps you grow as a person and it makes you appreciate the good and the bad.
“There was a year when we only won three games. We struggled on and off the field, but you learn a lot about people’s character.
“The players I played with were all good people that worked hard. When I went to the admin staff, there were similar characters and we got through those difficult times.”
THE DUBBO DESTROYER
Les Davidson is a busy man.
For the past 11 years, the Dubbo-born prop has devoted long hours to driving a crane at Botany Bay.
Davidson struggles to attend games because of his workload, but a day rarely goes by when he isn’t reminded about his 113 games for the Rabbitohs between 1984-90.
“Oh mate, I always get Souths fans wanting to chat,” Davidson said. “I also played for Cronulla, but the Rabbitohs supporters are tragic.
“I’ll go shopping and my missus will be finished and I’ll still be in aisle one talking to people.
“Whenever I’m in the area, mad footy-heads still recognise me. It’s good.”
Davidson made the finals in four of his seven seasons at Souths, but he says the Rabbitohs were never considered the competition’s silvertails.
“In the early days, we struggled for money as a club,” he said. “You would hear about other clubs going out for seafood, but we just had mashed peas and pies.
“But it didn’t matter because we just competed in everything we did. We had a saying: ‘Don’t ever give up.’ We also enjoyed each other’s company.
“But those tough times brought people together and made tough people.”
Davidson can see similar hardworking traits in the current crop of Rabbitohs.
“They seem happy, and a happy footballer is a good footballer,” he said.
“They will do anything for each other, the club and the coach.”
THE HITMAN
Peter Johnston only spent two seasons at Souths, in 1993-94, but he’ll always feel a strong connection to the Redfern-based club.
“There is a good spirit at the Rabbitohs,” says Johnston, who also played for Parramatta and Illawarra.
“It started with guys like John Sattler. He is humble and friendly, and that has flowed right through the club. No one has a big head at Souths because they know it wouldn’t be tolerated.
“We didn’t have the money, but we played with a good style and everyone was mates. I’ve still got a lot of friends from my time there. I had my 50th a few weeks ago and the likes of Spud Carroll and Sean Garlick came down.”
Johnston will be acknowledged at Saturday’s Old Boys function. The theme for the event is Souths’ Greatest Hitmen, a title that evokes fond memories of the day he attempted to make the NFL as a 29-year-old in 1997.
After attending a game in Los Angeles, Johnston decided to contact a host of clubs with a letter and video highlights package of his biggest hits.
Just when he thought his effort would amount to nothing, he received a 2am call at home from New Orleans coach Mike Ditka.
“I thought it was a joke,” he said. “But he asked me to come over for a trial at the end of the league season. It was a 40-yard run and some side-to-side work.
“I told them I’d played some gridiron, which I hadn’t, but it worked out well.”
The Saints were so impressed with Johnston’s letter, they used it as pre-game motivation. The coach even implored his players to “tackle like that Aussie bloke”.
Johnston was so popular at New Orleans that he received a hero’s welcome upon arrival.
“The players gave me a standing ovation and were chanting — ‘Hitman, Hitman’,” he recalls.
“They asked me to come back and train with the college team, but I decided to go home as I was in the later stages of my career.”
Despite this, Johnston picked up a role as a rugby union defensive coach in South Africa after his time at Parramatta in ’97.
“So that tape served me well,” said Johnston, who now runs a successful Subway franchise in Wollongong.
FROM PAIN TO PIES
Sean Garlick will never forget the day South Sydney was kicked out of the competition in 1999.
As the club’s captain, Garlick shouldered the brunt of the club’s agony.
“It didn’t get any worse than that,” said Garlic, who played 96 first-grade games in two separate stints from 1990-93 and 1997-99.
“Even when we got back into the competition, we had to build from nothing.
“I remember we trained at Erskineville Oval. There were broken windows and you’d get hit by glass when the wind blew through.
“There was one shower that you had to avoid because you’d get an electric shock off it.
“But the club was famous for being the battler — not having much and just getting the job done.”
Today Garlick is the CEO of the pie franchise Garlo’s Pies. He credits his time at Souths for his success in life and business.
“I came straight out of school and got graded to the Rabbitohs and went through some tough times,” he said.
“But when you’ve lost five games in a row, it builds resilience. You look at the people alongside you and you are in it together.
“That teamwork and mateship has been really important for me.”