NRL pre-season watch: Peter Peters won’t cop Anthony Seibold slur
Anthony Seibold has made a powerful enemy at the Sea Eagles with Peter Peters fuming over comments the Manly coach made yesterday.
Manly legend Peter Peters has fired back at criticism from new coach Anthony Seibold, declaring he won’t be silenced by a coach on “P plates” over his comments about Tom Trbojevic.
It comes after Seibold belittled the views of the former premiership winning Manly player, saying what Peters said about Trbojevic was not “an educated comment”.
The fact is the now 77-year-old not only played at the top level but has also worked as a journalist for over 50 years, earning tremendous respect for his honesty and insight.
And he certainly wasn’t backing away from what he said about Turbo recently because he said he only ever had the club’s best interests at heart.
“I have had that many calls from people saying what you said is what everyone is thinking but haven’t said it,” Peters responded.
“What I did say is that if it continues (the run of injuries) he may have to go into early retirement.
“I never said ‘release’.
“Mate, that is just a pure business view that I took.
“I mean, Tommy got $300,000 a game last year.
“You’ve got to be accountable for that.
“He is worth every penny when he is playing.
“But I have said before, you can’t have a Lamborghini in the garage that is not mechanically sound and you can’t drive it.
“I don’t take a backward step on any of that.
“It is where he was before he went (to the US for treatment on his troublesome hamstrings).
“I hope he is well. The game needs him. Manly definitely need him. He is a wonderful player. But not everything has a fairy tale ending.”
And Peters was particularly fired up about Seibold labelling his views not an “educated comment”.
“I joined Manly in 1969 and I was a journalist at the time and Ken Irvine and myself were the only two fully fledged journalists that were actually playing the game,” Peters said.
“And not once since then with a multitude of premiership coaches and a multitude of CEO’s and the greatest administrator the game has ever seen in Ken Arthurson have I once been told that I can’t or I should refrain from giving my view.
“I was always a journalist first, footballer second.
“I love Manly with all my heart. Next to my own family it is my greatest love.
“I want to see Tommy do well.
“But I am not that stupid to think that he can keep going down the path he has been going down.
“Those are the sort of things that I have said that I stand by.
“And if Anthony wants to pick up the phone he will get somebody that wants to support him.
“But if he wants to lock horns, well, I won’t walk away. It is as simple as that.”
But Seibold was totally dismissive of Peters’ comments this week when he spoke to the media.
“It came from a former player of our club and it was disappointing to hear that in the public domain,” Seibold said.
“He is an important player to our club and where we want to get to. It’s easy to make a comment like that, and I don’t think it was an educated comment.”
Peters added: “I am not beating my own drum, but I am saying I won’t harnessed.
“That is probably why at 77 they still want me to go on.
“You have known me a long time. I am not going to step down.
“In all reality, he has still got his P plates on.
“Like, I was critical of my own mate Des Hasler last year.
“But Des never rang and said, ‘Oh, mate, ease off’.
“But I hope I was constructive. And the things I pointed out were fitness, dying in the end of games, giving up three tries in five minutes. I mean, it is there for everyone to see.
“If I don’t call it then I am not doing what I should be doing. And they made changes (at Manly when replacing Hasler with Seibold).
“And suggesting Tom goes to centre, plenty of good judges have suggested that. ‘Oh we wouldn’t contemplate that’. Well, why? I mean it is common sense.
“The last thing I would be doing is putting him under Matt Burton’s bombs in the first game. Why subject him to that in the first game?
“I don’t know. It is going to be interesting. I look forward to the season. I will be cheering them. But if they don’t do well I will be saying why I think they are not. “
SEIBOLD CONFIRMS TURBO’S RETURN DATE, POSITIONAL FUTURE
– Brent Read
Manly coach Anthony Seibold has ruled out shifting Tom Trbojevic to the centres and dismissed suggestions the club should cut loose their highest-paid player after the Sea Eagles superstar returned from America to declare he was on target to play in round one.
Trbojevic has spent recent weeks in Philadelphia, where he has worked on his hamstring issues under the expert eye of renowned sports scientist Bill Knowles, the man who masterminded Latrell Mitchell’s return from injury last season.
Mitchell went on to dominate the NRL and Manly officials are confident Trbojevic will do the same as he narrows his focus on the club’s season opener against Canterbury.
The 26-year-old will gradually return to training in coming weeks and Seibold confirmed he would sit out the pre-season trials. However, both Seibold and Trbojevic insisted the Sea Eagles’ talisman would be ready for round one and would wear the No. 1 jersey despite calls from some to ease his workload with a move to the centres.
“People can say it is a bigger workload (at fullback) but the workload has nothing to do with Tom’s hamstring history,” Seibold said.
“It is the running mechanics. Regardless of whether he plays centre, fullback or any other positions, that is not going to have an impact on his injury history.
“So I reckon that shuts that down.”
Trbojevic believes he has returned from America a better athlete, although even the university-educated Manly No. 1 found it difficult to explain Knowles’ methods.
“He talks about pushing into the ground … you need to own the ground and push through the ground on contact,” Trbojevic said.
“When you run, a big thing for me is ankle stiffness. I have to improve. He called it squishes.
“There was also a new focus on changing direction …. so it becomes second nature. If you look through my past hammy injuries, you’ll see it’s from changing direction.
“Being a more sustainable athlete is one of the big goals. He says he won’t make you faster, but he can get you stronger in positions you find yourself.”
The hope is that Trbojevic is able to recapture the form of 2021, when he laid siege on the competition and won the Dally M player of the year.
On his day, there may be no better player in the game, which explains why Seibold was so dismissive of suggestions from Manly great Peter Peters that the club should consider releasing Trbojevic if his injury problems continued.
“It came from a former player of our club and it was disappointing to hear that in the public domain,” Seibold said.
“He is an important player to our club and where we want to get to. It’s easy to make a comment like that, and I don’t think it was an educated comment.”
While Trbojevic devoted much of his time in America to working with Knowles, he also took the opportunity to explore other sports.
He beat the drum at a Philadelphia Flyers ice hockey game and visited the Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles.
He lapped up the opportunity to be invisible, conceding the obsession with his hamstring on Sydney’s northern beaches was draining.
“A lot of fans will ask you, ‘how’s the hammy, Tom?’, ‘will you be right for round one?’, and while it’s not a bad thing, and they’re not coming from a bad place, it does weigh on your [mind],” Trbojevic said.
Seibold added: “Every commentary about it is always the injury. People recognise him right. You can imagine every conversation starts with how is the injury or how is the hammy.
“I think him getting over there (to America) was fantastic for him. I am really confident it will reignite the second part of his career.”
FEARS RISING SHARKS STAR WILL MISS ENTIRE SEASON
By Michael Carayannis, David Riccio
The Sharks fear they could be dealt a major double-blow ahead of the 2023 season with young gun Kade Dykes suffering a suspected torn ACL.
Dykes, in line to compete for a first grade fullback jersey in 2023, is at risk of missing the entire season after being sent for scans on his knee on Tuesday.
The Sharks are currently training at a pre-season camp in Wollongong.
Dykes, typical of his strong character, has stayed with the team despite his season likely being over.
Everyone at Cronulla are hoping the results of scans prove different to the initial fears of the club’s medical staff.
The loss of Dykes, who turned 21 on Tuesday, could prove especially significant given that just 24-hours earlier, Cronulla granted fellow fullback contender Lachlan Miller a release to join Newcastle.
The depth blow would leave Cronulla relying on Will Kennedy to remain injury-free for the majority of 2023 with the likes of Nicho Hynes and Connor Tracey the next best options for Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon.
Dykes, a Cronulla local junior, had his eyes set on furthering his NRL career in 2023 after featuring in two first-grade games last season.
The son of Cronulla legend Adam Dykes had been the target of the Bulldogs and Dolphins before committing to a two-year deal with the Sharks last August.
MILLER TIME STARTS NOW AT THE KNIGHTS
By David Riccio
Newcastle will have just four weeks to form a winning spine combination with fullback Lachlan Miller finally arriving from Cronulla.
Miller, the former Rugby Sevens flyer, farewelled his Sharks teammates on Monday after securing a release from the final year of his contract in the Shire.
Miller has been signed by the Knights to play fullback, a pivotal figure in an untried attacking quartet that includes halfback Jackson Hastings, five-eighth Kalyn Ponga and hooker Jayden Brailey.
The 28-year-old, who in his debut season featured in seven NRL games for the Sharks in 2022, has arrived in Newcastle and will commence training immediately, cognisant that the key spine players have little time to gel.
As part of the release of Miller, the Sharks have secured promising NSW under-19’s prop Max Bradbury.
Bradbury, who former NSW Origin prop and former Knights pathways manager Mark O’Meley has a huge opinion of, will move to Cronulla by the end of this week.
Ironically, Miller’s first hitout is likely to be against the Sharks.
Newcastle meet Cronulla in their first of two pre-season trials on February 10 on the Central Coast.
The Knights will commence their NRL season in round one – in 31-days – against the Warriors on March 3.
SHOCK CONTENDER TO START FOR RAIDERS
By Paul Crawley
He is Ricky Stuart’s bargain buy dummy half who has the potential to upstage some of the game’s richest recruits in 2023.
While much of the off-season focus has understandably centred on other big name number 9s signings including Api Koroisau (Tigers), Josh Hodgson (Eels), Brandon Smith (Roosters) and Reed Mahoney (Bulldogs), Samoa’s World Cup rake Danny Levi has also remerged from under the radar as a huge hope of re-establishing his once promising NRL career at Canberra.
Other dummy halves who have also traded clubs over summer include Sam Verrills (Titans), Jake Turpin (Roosters) and Jacob Liddle (Dragons), while the Panthers are banking on Soni Luke to help Mitch Kenny fill Koroisau’s boots.
But after returning from a stint in Super League where he impressed with Huddersfield, Ricky Stuart reckons the now 26-year-old Levi is a genuine shot of getting first crack of the Raiders’ No. 9 jumper after a super pre-season.
Levi is in a three-way fight with Tom Starling and Zac Woolford to start the season, with Stuart confirming Levi will play in the Raiders’ first trial against the Bulldogs on Sunday February 12 in Moruya.
Asked if he was a “genuine chance” of pushing for the NRL team to start the season, Stuart said without hesitation: “100 per cent.
“He has really hit the ground running.
“He is fit and healthy and he has bought right into the place.
“Danny is going to get an opportunity in our first trial.”
Levi was recruited to cover Hodgson’s move to the Eels, but on a fraction of the money of the Englishman who was on a reported $800,000.
It’s believed Levi’s two-year deal is worth in the vicinity of $150,000 a season.
While Hodgson is recognised as one of the game’s elite No 9s when injury free, Levi’s career was also once heading for a similar trajectory when he was a young gun coming through at Newcastle.
After captaining the Knights under 20s, he debuted in the NRL in 2015 and then played Test footy for New Zealand in 2017.
But after a falling out with then Knights coach Nathan Brown, Levi had stints at Manly (2020) and Brisbane (2021) before moving to the UK last year.
He also impressed for Samoa at last year’s World Cup before he withdrew to return home for personal reasons.
Levi played his last NRL game for the Broncos in round 24 of 2021 coming off the bench against the Sharks.
The word is some sections of the Broncos were also keen to get him back this year but it was eventually knocked on the head, with the club choosing to let Billy Walters and Cory Paix battle it out for the nine jumper, with teenager Blake Mozer also in the mix.
But at the Raiders Levi hasn’t missed a beat, with Stuart hopeful of what he can add to the surprise 2022 finalists in such a crucial spine position.
“What he has done is created a very healthy competition,” Stuart added.
“Zac and Tommy have done a great job for us the last couple of years and that competition is very healthy for a very important position in the team.”
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