Replacing Wayne Bennett is like following Alex Ferguson

Being appointed Broncos coach is like being thrown the keys to a Lamborghini. Anthony Seibold must be wondering if he’s inherited a ‘64 VW beetle, writes MIKE COLMAN

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Has Anthony Seibold got the worst job in rugby league?

From the outside looking in, getting appointed coach of the Broncos would seem like being thrown the keys to a shiny new Lamborghini.

You’d have to think that right now Seibold is wondering if he’s inherited a ’64 VW beetle.

Not that there is anything second rate about the Broncos. Far from it. They are the biggest, richest, best supported club in the game.

Trouble is, with that comes the highest of expectations – and so far Seibold hasn’t been able to meet them.

Anthony Seibold has got one of the thoughest gigs in the game. How do you follow in Wayne Bennett at the Broncos. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England

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It’s not his fault of course. He speaks a different language to what the players are used to and he’s trying to implement new ideas which is going to take time.

Unfortunately the longer that process takes, the more pressure he and the players are going to be under and the harder it will become.

Which gets us back to the initial question? Is coaching the Broncos the worst job in the game?

Unless you are Wayne Bennett of course.

Bennett built the Broncos in his own image. The players understood Wayne-speak because it was the only language a lot of them had ever heard.

“Dynasty” is one of the most misused words in the sporting lexicon, but that is exactly what Bennett built at Red Hill. Taking over from him is like taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

Following Sir Alex Ferguson as manager of Manchester United is like being handed a poisoned chalice. Picture: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Managing Man U is seen as one of the plum roles in world sport but like the Broncos coaching job, it has proven a poisoned chalice. Current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is the fourth man to follow Ferguson. None of his predecessors, David Moyes, Louis van Gaal or Jose Mourinho has seen out their contract.

Likewise at the Broncos where Bennett replacement Ivan Henjak was sacked after 41 games. The man who followed him, Anthony Griffin, lasted 101 before he was removed to make way for Bennett’s return.

Which makes you wonder why Seibold would have taken the job.

Craig Bellamy wasn’t interested, and this is a man who knows a thing or two about coaching, what with 420 games, eight grand finals and two premierships on his resume.

Seibold, on the other hand, came to Brisbane after just one season as a first grade coach.

Admittedly it was a very good one, in which he was judged Coach of the Year and his South Sydney Rabbitohs were beaten by the eventual premiers just one game short of the grand final.

South Sydney’s John Sutton makes a break against the Roosters in last year’s preliminary final. The foundations were set. Picture: AAP/Dan Himbrechts.

Which makes it all the more puzzling why he would leave. He had a very good team at Souths, they understood each other and were working well together.

The hardest part of the job, laying the foundations, had already been done and with the likes of Sam and George Burgess, Adam Reynolds, Cody Walker, John Sutton, Dane Gagai, Greg Inglis and Alex Johnson he had the basis of a premiership side.

At the Broncos he would be starting from scratch.

There is no doubt that Brisbane’s roster contains some of the most talented young players in the game, but the multimillion-dollar question is how long they will take to ripen. Last season the Broncos were the third best team in the competition in terms of attack – and tenth in defence.

Yet Seibold was willing to walk away from a sure thing to take a risk on the great unknown.

It reminds me of something the original Superfish, 1500m freestyle great Stephen Holland, once told me.

We were talking about how Holland had taken the swimming world by storm as a 15 year-old thanks to the coaching of the larger-than-life Laurie Lawrence.

Holland was a world champion and multiple world record holder when, in the lead-up to the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the pressures of work and family forced Lawrence to walk away.

Stephen Holland, the original Superfish - Laurie Lawrence took him to the top of the world then had to walk away. Picture: Ted Holliday.

Holland needed a new coach but whoever took on the job would be in an unenviable position. If Holland succeeded in Montreal it would be seen as a result of Lawrence laying the groundwork. If he lost, it would be the new coach’s fault. Sound familiar?

The big names in the sport shied away. The only person willing to step up was Bill Sweetenham, a former horse trainer from Mt Isa with very little swim coaching experience.

In the words of Holland, “it was a ballsy move.”

Just as it is for Seibold.

Unfortunately Sweetenham decided to change Holland’s usual race-plan on the eve of the Olympic final and he finished third.

As Anthony Seibold knows only too well, Broncos fans expect to finish a little higher than that.

Originally published as Replacing Wayne Bennett is like following Alex Ferguson