How did it all go so wrong for Anthony Seibold at the Brisbane Broncos?

Anthony Seibold speaks to the media following his departure as Brisbane Broncos coach. Picture: Annette Dew

Is there a tougher job in Australian sport than coach of the Brisbane Broncos?

As Anthony Seibold packs up the contents of his desk and ponders the wreckage of his coaching career, he probably knows the answer to that question.

There’s not much doubt that as hot seats in sport go, the one in the coach’s office at Red Hill in Brisbane’s inner-north is an inferno. And it has very little to do with whether the man with the whistle and the clipboard has a good football brain or not.

Seibold is clearly a coach with talent. He was coach of the year in 2018 after taking Souths to a preliminary final in his first year in charge. Before that he had a long stint as an assistant under Craig Bellamy at Melbourne and coached at Manly before going to Souths. He went to Brisbane laden with expectation.

But he fell victim to the torrent of factors you have to deal with as the head coach in a one-team town.

In one-team towns in NRL heartland – Brisbane, Townsville, Newcastle – and two-team towns in AFL territory – Adelaide, Perth – the coaches are under more pressure than the premier or the mayor.

Paul Green, a premiership winning coach at the Cowboys, has already felt the bite of it in Townsville. Matthew Nicks, in his first season in charge of the struggling Crows, is feeling its hot breath on his neck in Adelaide.

As one of several NRL coaches in Sydney or AFL coaches in Melbourne, it’s easier to stay a little off centre stage and concentrate on the footy. And away from the heartland – Bellamy at the Storm, John Longmire and Leon Cameron at the Swans and the Giants, Chris Fagan at the Lions, even Stuart Dew at the Suns – the spotlight is not nearly so bright.

Anthony Seibold speaks to underperforming playmaker Anthony Milford at Broncos training last month. Picture: Annette Dew

But in the heartland, in a city where just about everyone supports one – maybe two – teams, there is so much more to being the coach than success on the field.

These teams carry the hopes and aspirations of a huge slice of the population. For many fans in these cities, their team is part of who they are and the weight of expectation is heavy.

If nothing else, the media focus is intense. It’s a rare day that the Adelaide Advertiser doesn’t devote its back page and more to the Crows and Port. The West Australian does the same with West Coast and Fremantle. The Townsville Bulletin is forensic in its coverage of the Cowboys, the Newcastle Herald records every breath they take at the Knights.

But in Brisbane, all of this is next-level. The Broncos have been a powerhouse club of the NRL for years, winning premierships, producing dozens of Maroons and Kangaroos players and bringing glory to their fans.

But with that comes intense scrutiny – from fans, from the media, from any number of people who think they could do a better job.

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— Brisbane Broncos (@brisbanebroncos) August 26, 2020

Seibold was a marked man from the time he arrived in Brisbane. The whispering campaign from contenders who missed out on the job started straight away. Among the powerful lobby of former club legends, there were many who worked against him.

And as the wheels fell off on the field this season, the pressure from fans, commentators, rivals and Broncos insiders became unbearable. Even Broncos shareholder Phil Murphy was bad-mouthing him.

Anthony Seibold. Picture: Annette Dew

The critics have finally got their man. However, the real tragedy will be if he becomes the scapegoat for what is clearly a bigger problem at the club.

Seibold’s coaching is only one of the reasons the Broncos can’t win a game – and it may not be the most important.

In the past couple of years, the people who run the club have let good senior players go and spent vast chunks of their salary cap on “stars” who haven’t performed. The squad consists almost entirely of inexperienced youngsters and veterans past their best. Seibold has failed to get the best out of them, but it was not him who assembled the team.

Surely some responsibility must rest with chief executive Paul White, chairman Karl Morris and football operations boss Peter Nolan.

And to the next coach who settles into the Broncos hot seat, all I can say is: good luck.