NRL: On Monday’s episode of Seibold ...

Broncos coach Anthony Seibold is facing a money-or-the-gun scenario

Anthony Seibold was laughing all the way to the bank. He was crying poor to his manager about being short-changed. He had been offered a million bucks to walk. He had not been offered a million bucks to walk. He was about to be offered a million bucks to walk. He would only walk if he was offered a million bucks. He would be gone by nightfall. He would stay until they dragged him out by the ankles in the off-season review. He would be at training at Red Hill this week. He would be curled up in the foetal position at home. I heard all these scenarios on Monday … before breakfast.

Cam Smith was preparing his retirement speech. He had no intention of retiring. He would stay at the Melbourne Storm as captain. He would stay at the Storm as an assistant coach. He would never play for another club. He was off to another club. He was going to the Brisbane Broncos in an off-field role. Or an on-field role. He was going to the Gold Coast Titans in an off-field role. Or an on-field role. He was three-over after five holes on a Sunshine Coast golf course. Kevin Walters was about to replace Seibold at the Broncos, which meant Walters was standing down as Queensland’s State of Origin coach. Which meant Paul Green would coach Origin. But Green might get the Broncos job. I heard all these scenarios on Monday … before breakfast.

Anthony Seibold’s future looks like being elsewhere. Picture: Annette Dew

It’s a funny old game, the funny old games around the NRL. Smith could end up Origin coach or fighting Tim Tszyu in Townsville on Wednesday night for all we really knew. Seibold’s situation was likely to be the first to be resolved. Then Smith’s, later in the week. Then Walters’. Walters had said he fully expected Smith to stay at the Storm, which meant Harry Grant and Brandon Smith would both be departing. They could all end up at the Broncos! Unless they decided to stay. We had breakfast, food for thought and a coffee, and waited for it all to unfold.

A million bucks sounded like a win for Seibold. Thanks, everyone, sorry for the mess, see ya later! But he had the right to seek more. Another three years were left on a ludicrous contract to start with, at about $800,000 a year, so he could have been asking the Broncos to cough up another $2.4m or so. Perhaps he would leave by naming and shaming the NRL figures responsible for slandering him on social media. He’d reveal the villains in a whodunit to rival Murder On The Orient Express. He would name names … the room would gasp … it was HIM! … and then onwards and upwards we would march.

Tszyu and Jeff Horn did a press conference. No mention of Seibold, Smith or Walters. And Horn reckons he’s a Queenslander. All Horn and Tszyu did was say bugger all before they giggled through the least intimidating stand-off you’d ever see. Giggling all the way to their own banks. If Seibold stayed, he would be in charge when the Broncos face Sydney Roosters on Friday night. Might not be worth sticking around for. It boiled down to this: he could go now, or be sacked at season’s end. The money or the gun.

Cameron Smith is almost certain to leave Melbourne at the end of the season

The more one thought about it, the less urgent Seibold’s situation seemed in comparison to Smith’s. The Broncos have hit rock bottom under him. Their worst season in their 32-year history. If he didn’t go on Monday, he would go soon enough. He had to. For the club’s good. For his own good. If Smith could be accepted as the greatest league player of all, his retirement was the real headline. Perhaps up there with Shane Warne hanging up the zooter, whatever that was.

His retirement this season might whip up something unexpected outside of Melbourne: support for the Storm. I know, preposterous. But if you watched him carve up NSW or your own club over the years and thought oh mate, go away, you might now be tempted to think, don’t go! Because league needs all the elite athletes it can get.

By dinner time, the latest episode of Seibold was looking more like an episode of Seinfeld. Nothing was happening. Darius Boyd said: “We‘re expecting him back on Wednesday and we’ve got a game against the Roosters on Friday night so we need to prepare well, and we expect Seibs back there.

“It’d be ideal to get some clarity one way or the other but at the end of the day that comes down to the head honchos at the club. They have to decide what they think is best going forward.”

The hours ticked on. Hold the back page, boss. Got a yarn here you wouldn’t believe. On a day that started with everything happening, nothing actually happened. But it will. Predictions? No Seibold at the Broncos by the end of the week. And no Smith in the NRL next year.