Anthony Seibold explains Brisbane’s recruitment strategy

With 11 players off-contract next season, Anthony Seibold will have room in the salary cap to rebuild Brisbane as he’s sees fit. But the Broncos coach will put his faith in what he’s already got.

Seibold is putting his faith in his current players. Photo: AAP Image/Dan Peled

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Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold says the club won’t be aggressively attacking the open market and is backing his youthful roster to break the longest premiership drought in Broncos history.

Seibold heads into Brisbane’s final-round clash against Canterbury on Saturday night under pressure to piece together a long-term playmaking spine that can apply the premiership polish to Brisbane’s forward firepower.

There is a view Seibold needs to recruit a dominant five-eighth to eventually replace newly-transitioned pivot Darius Boyd, who turns 33 next year and may not play on beyond 2020.

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Seibold is putting his faith in his current players. Photo: AAP Image/Dan Peled

The Broncos have 11 players off-contract next season, with Jack Bird, Anthony Milford and Andrew McCullough all having options in their favour, giving Brisbane some room to move under the salary cap.

But after blooding eight debutants this season, including 18-year-old halfback Tom Dearden, Seibold says developing Brisbane’s bevy of young guns will take priority over a spending spree in pursuit of their first title since 2006.

Asked on Fox’s League Life program if he would explore the player market next season, Seibold said: “We’ll have a look at that.

“One thing we want to do is drive our focus against the Bulldogs this week.

“We’ll look at what space we have in our roster. To be fair, there’s not too many spaces to fill, but we will do a comprehensive review of our programs and the areas we need to strengthen.”

Seibold defended his decision to overhaul Brisbane’s roster in his first five months in charge.

Kiwi Test utility Jordan Kahu was released to the Cowboys in February before three top-liners — Kodi Nikorima (Warriors), James Roberts and Jaydn Su’A (both Souths) — were shown the door in the space of six weeks.

Seibold is building his own Broncos empire. Photo: AAP Image/Dan Peled

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Seibold insists it wasn’t his initial intention to shake-up Brisbane’s personnel.

“With the changes … some were led by the players and getting better opportunities,” he said.

“We had a tough start from a results perspective. I had to make some changes and some guys went back to reserve grade and some guys (Roberts and Su’A) asked to move on.

“Kodi had an opportunity to get a good deal for him and his family in a position he wanted to play.

“I saw Kodi being a 14 for us going forward and he wanted to play in the halves.

“With James (Roberts), he has a good relationship with Wayne Bennett (Souths coach), he is a Souths junior and it was a homecoming for him.

“He is playing first grade at the moment and he wasn’t at our club, so it has worked out best for all parties concerned.”

Originally published as Anthony Seibold explains Brisbane’s recruitment strategy