https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/wo...owner-on-last-day-in-job-20200825-p55p8o.html
OPINION
'Wouldn't man up': Seibold savages Broncos owner on last day in job.
Andrew Webster
For the past 18 months, Anthony Seibold has been dealing with personal attacks from a variety of angles. The first wave came from the frontline of former Broncos players who were angry Seibold was appointed head coach ahead of Kevin Walters.
Then the hand grenades came from Wayne Bennett, who believed he should never have been replaced by Seibold in the first place. Last week, the sewer of social media became the main supply of Seibold hate, spreading lies about his personal life. They were so rank he called in lawyers and cybercrime experts.
When the Broncos' largest private investor, Phil Murphy, on Monday compared the coach to a
“cancer that needs to be cut out before the Broncos die”, Seibold had simply had enough.
“I got his number and tried to call him today, but he hung up when I said who it was,” Seibold told the Herald. “Wouldn't man up and own his comments. That’s the measure of a man. “I don’t know the bloke. He has nothing to do with our club other than own some shares. Seen him three times in my life. The last time was when some players asked for him to be banned from the change rooms after a game last year because of his behaviour.”
The deliberate, methodical campaign to extract Seibold from Red Hill finally succeeded on Tuesday afternoon when he agreed to quit with at least three years remaining on his contract. It remains unclear how much he will receive of the $3 million he would’ve earned if he'd stayed on. A figure of $1.5 million has been widely speculated but can’t be confirmed. With no performance clauses in his deal, he was in the box seat if the club sacked him.
Seibold insisted he brought the matter to a head after chairman Karl Morris told him on Friday the board wanted him to coach the remaining five matches before the dreaded "end-of-season review" was undertaken. News Corp denied speculation it had stepped in, along with claims chief executive Michael Miller had recently requested a copy of Seibold’s contract to check for performance clauses.
But it can be revealed former Broncos players have been privately messaging Miller to vent their frustration because of how poorly the side has been performing. That in itself highlights the depth of despair at the once-proud Broncos.
They can stop texting because Seibold has coached his final game for the club. He will address his players on Wednesday morning and then hold a 9am media conference before getting out of Dodge. He will then spend a week on a mate’s farm with his NRL future in serious doubt, just two years after being named Dally M coach of the year because of what he achieved as a rookie at Souths.
It is a stunning fall from grace and there are several reasons for it, but perhaps the most obvious is Seibold never handled the intense scrutiny, pressure and expectation that comes with coaching the Broncos. Only one man ever has. Morris and chief executive Paul White decided long ago that winning their power struggle with Bennett meant more to them than on-field success.
Seibold showed as far back as December 2018 that he would struggle with the attacks coming his way. When he and Bennett swapped jobs for the 2020 season, Bennett dug in his heels and said he wanted to coach out the 2019 season with Brisbane, that he owed it to his players and all that jazz.
“I have had a gutful,” Seibold said at the time. “I’ve been sitting here for four weeks and feeling like a punching bag. It’s not acceptable and it's not fair ... I’m sick of Wayne carrying on. "I’ve bit my tongue and said nothing until now. I just want clarity and so do the players. I feel for the players at both clubs. It’s a joke.”
The mouse had taken the cheese. From then on, he became an easy nut to crack and his detractors have been cracking them ever since. When his side won seven from nine heading into the finals last year, the hand grenades were easily deflected.
But the white noise crept in this season after each humiliating loss as the opposition posted cricket scores, all live on prime-time TV reserved for the high-rating Broncos. Club insiders say since the COVID-19 break, the team has been divided between those who were prepared to play for Seibold and those who weren’t.
There’s certainly a whiff of entitlement about many of them, not least Tevita Pangai jnr who now wants to stay at the club — with the help of a PR adviser — despite trashing it for weeks.
That’s something that would never have happened on Bennett’s watch. Sure, many Broncos players over the years have projected the sense of privilege that can appear at one-city teams, but the skinny coach worked it to his advantage.
He always had their support. Seibold did not.
Hilarious, that the white anting started from day 1.
Ex players angry their mate didn’t get the job, what a pack of self entitled twats. Kulcha
