Brisbane Broncos coach Anthony Seibold told to work with sacked coach Stephen Kearney
Brisbane captain Alex Glenn has thrown his support behind the club’s call to bring in a high-profile assistant to help Anthony Seibold.
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Broncos skipper Alex Glenn has backed calls for sacked Warriors coach Stephen Kearney to join Red Hill in a bid to halt their five-week form slump.
Glenn was mentored by Kearney when the former New Zealand coach was an assistant at the club from 2013.
Glenn on Tuesday credited Kearney’s relationship with his players and said it would be a bonus for any club to have him on the coaching roster.
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“It’s out of my control, but he’s a great guy,” Glenn said.
“Any organisation that can have him will be a bonus.
“I thought he was a bit hard done by with the Warriors sacking him but I know the type of person he is and he always brings out the best in his players.
“Kearney was an assistant coach here and he was amazing for us. Any organisation that can get him would be a bonus for them.”
The club’s powerbrokers have urged embattled Anthony Seibold - who will keep his head coaching role - to sign Kearney or club legend Kevin Walters to his support staff.
The board also urged the under-siege coach to “lighten up and have more fun” with a group of youngsters who are struggling so early in their careers to cope with the intense demands of playing NRL at such a powerful one-team one-town franchise.
Chairman Karl Morris insists Seibold is staying and that he retains the support of the directors.
“It’s important we don’t panic,” Morris said, “The number one thing the board can do is support him but he’s got to realise that what he’s doing right now isn’t working. Five in a row is terrible.”
After holding talks with Morris on Monday, Seibold revealed he is open to the idea.
“I know Stephen is back in town (Brisbane),” Seibold said.
“He has worked for the club previously and he’s got a lot of experience.
“He did a tremendous job when he was here last time.
“He’s be a person I’d reach out for if there is a position available.”
The Warriors are still feeling the effects of the shock Kearney axing detrimental consequences on the playing group. The problem with reaching out to Walters is his commitments to Fox Sports and the fact he could not enter the COVID bubble while working on TV.
On the possibility of signing a new assistant and getting more help, Morris said it was an important move to help the club climb out of its biggest crisis in history.
Outside of a tight loss to the Manly Sea Eagles, their form has been atrocious since the resumption from COVID-19 five weeks ago.
“We can give him (Seibold) some advice and try to surround him with good people,” Morris said.
“Anthony needs to reach out to some people he trusts.
“I’ve told him he’s missing something and he needs to fill a spot that’s not being filled at the moment.”
On suggestions that training has become too tense and too stressful, Morris said: “Everyone’s feeling the pressure. That’s natural. We’ve spoken about it and I’m sure they’re looking at that.
“They’ve got to start enjoying it again but that can only come from winning.”
Seibold told News Corp the players had dinner and a beer after Saturday’s shock loss to the Titans.
However the atmosphere and mood after an embarrassing 30-12 loss to the lowly placed Titans was about as low as you would expect.
“Obviously when you’re losing it’s not much fun around the place,” Seibold said.
“That’s human nature when things aren’t going great.
“Should we go out and have a beer together? It’s been difficult with the COVID restrictions.
“We’ve got a young group and footy has always been fun for them.
“We’re going through a dry spot but we’ll hopefully work our way out of it and enjoy some better times.”
Morris on Sunday said he had no intention of sacking Seibold, and would not “unless I am instructed otherwise by the company (News Corp, which also publishes The Courier-Mail) which owns 69 per cent of the Broncos”.
But senior News Corp executives on Monday made it extremely clear that the management of the club was a matter for the board and the Broncos executive.
As shareholders, News Corp not only had no intention to get involved in such matters but also understood it would be entirely inappropriate to intervene.
While he is keen to explore getting Kearney on board, Seibold insists his current staff are doing a good job under the difficult circumstances.
“Peter Gentle and Kurt Richards are really good assistant coaches,” he said, “Peter Ryan does our defence.
“Corey (Parker) was doing a great job with our middle before he became unavailable and couldn’t come into our bubble because of his Fox Sports commitments.”
Originally published as Brisbane Broncos coach Anthony Seibold told to work with sacked coach Stephen Kearney