There are no winners in the NRL coach shuffle

I don't agree Keith that "it must also be said, though, that the officials of both clubs can’t escape criticism for breaching their contracts" as the Bunnies officials didn't, they had a contract on the table since June this year for Seibold, this was ready for him to sign while he was dogging us and negotiating a contract (behind our backs) and continually denying that he had any negotiations with the Broncos. On the other side, Bennett had a contract and was 100% willing to fulfil his contractual duties, he was not negotiating anything (behind the Broncos officials and fans back) and he stood his ground, that is why Bennett said "I've come to Souths with 'a clear conscience" as he didnt want to let the Broncos fans and players down, big difference to what Seibold did, on the other side, Seibold did everything in the opposite way, he let our fans down and the Bunnies officials down, who went out of their way to plan a future for the club with him and his family. As far as I'm concerned Seibold is in the wrong here and will regret the way that he has gone on with this. Lets see what he does at the Broncs, as I'm sure that he won't 'come anywhere near' the success as what Bennett did and I will give him 2-3 years max and then what? As no other club will ever trust Seibold again and/or give him a contract, especially clubs outside of Brisbane, where this guy wants to stay, he said so!

Yeah it is a real interesting scenario Don...we have a cunning old fox and a relatively young cocky new boy on the block locking horns before the pre-season has even started....has the makings of a couple of not to miss blockbusting games for the next couple of seasons. Who will end up with the bragging rights?....again time will tell. In the short term I feel Seibold has the much harder task in front of him than Bennett. IMO before Seibold can't even start thinking about being successfull at the Broncoes until he firstly wins over the dressing room and then just as importantly the dyed in the wool Bronco/Bennett supporters ...and so he will need a healthy for and against card for the season to achieve that. Bennett will come out running in the dressing room and supporters department....because of his previous record. Not being either a Bronco or Rabbit supporter if I was forced to go with one team over the next couple of seasons I think I would sit in the Bronco corner. Why?....I like the idea of a fresh and apparently smart young coach who has watched the game change and evolve over the last few year and is willing to introduce some new ideas that might suit the modern game. And the icing on the cake is IMO is he has potentially an untapped young talented side to work with and implement these ideas....and hope they work of course. On the other hand the Rabbits have Bennett and a great team full of experience and ready to go....but the coach and team ar'nt getting any younger and maybe starting to get ready to slip into their comfort zone. So the bottom line is I guess I'm going potential to beat experience over the next couple of seasons.

You don’t finish equal top of the ladder with the eventual Grand Finalists by having only half a season..come the finals and ‘when it mattered’ they were beaten a point by the Storm in Week 1..embarrassing...took out the Dragons who had just cleaned up the Broncos in Week 2..Seibold,you are killing this team !.... Week 3 were beaten by the Premiers 12-4....in his first year as an NRL coach...put your minus 3’s and your minus 44s away for a moment and look at the forest..

No thanks, we already have plenty of chairs in our change rooms.

Barretts still under contract and their lawyers will be talking to you if you keep this up.

They won 2 of their last 7 games - when it counted. During which time they cracked 20 points twice. - Teams worked them out. Over their last 9 games their plus/minus was -3; salvaged only by a 41 point flogging of a hopeless Wests Tigers or it would have been -44. He did some good things with some players, but couldn't hold it together and couldn't come up with anything new or think on the run, even when it was obvious how is team was being defended. Stephen Kearney has had good half seasons, Brad Arthur has had multiple good whole seasons, (and look what happened to his team last year). I would want to see a little more from a coach before I committed to 5 years with him...

I was actually surprised the Broncos were going so strongly after a 1 season NRL coach. Manly would have let you have Barrett :P

Half a good season ? Gee,they were knocked out by the eventual Premiers in the final..he had so many individuals having best ever seasons..Cody Walker,sensational..Sutton,never had a better year..ever..the Burgess boys,catching and holding it...rookie development,Murray,Graham,Jennings and Douhei..and arguably the most damaging forward in the game went from half a game in firsts to first player picked in the Kangaroos..Damian Cook..the coach of the year went a tad better than’half a good season.’..

I think teams will work Cook out next year and he will not have anything like the impact of 2018.

Absolutely mean Corey Oates. Cheers. But I reckon Corey Norman would be a great option to sort out the halves....

There's a lot of pressure on Seibold for all sorts of reasons and I'm not sure how it will pan out. Wayne will be hoping for a Saints repeat and the Souths roster is as good perhaps. Damien Cook could be leaving ? though and he ignited a lot of their attack when they were winning. Even if Cook stays I think he could be have been a bit of a flash in the pan. For whatever reason by the seasons end he wasn't causing much trauma to the opposition and it looks like teams have worked out how to nullify him. Inglis is well into the veteran stage and a bit like his previous fullback, Darius Bennett, past his best by a fair margin.

The Broncos are the most likely biggest loser here. Firstly, it has shown that they are not immune to having significant off field disfunction and the CEO, who was regarded as a strong leader, now looks more like a puppet than a leader. So this hurts the brand and culture. They have had to pay out Bennett, maybe not as much as Wayne would have liked, but still paid him some. They have brought in a coach who has half a good season on his resume who showed no ability to adapt his game plan when opponents adapted to his style. That is pretty much it. And now they have him for five years instead of four. So after three years when they are trying to move him on because they haven't won anything and their talented young roster is risking being wasted and looking to move on, now they are paying out two years of a coach contract instead of one.

I assume you mean Corey Oates to the back row. But why would he want to move to the back row with Seibold in charge. Seibold had one attacking move - left side shifts. Oates plays left wing. If ever there was a time to get on Oates to be leading try scorer in 2019, it is now.

I reckon now that the deal is done, both clubs will be better for the swap and are both ahead of where they were. Bennett inherits a senior squad poised to have one or two big cracks at a GF in this current "window" if they can keep their key players fit before they need to refresh their roster. He's the perfect coach to take a talented, balanced but clunky side the step further like the the Dragons 2010. The Broncos get a coach who will likely make some decisions on a few players who were recruited / retained by Bennett but in the picture of a "balanced" footy team don't cover all the tasks well enough. This may mean moving them on or could simply mean he adds some talent in the same position to inject what's missing. They need a quality second hooker option, a half or 5/8 who can steer a side and possesses a good and reliable kicking game and a strong hard running centre. And maybe Corey Norman could get his wish and get some time in the back row? It'll be interesting. I expect Souths to do better in 2019 than the Broncos though. Not because of the coaches but the Souths roster has very few talent gaps and no lack of depth and experience.

Poor old Anthony, it has affected his family?..maybe only in their budget. He is no angel..he had already signed to coach the bronco's in 2020. Maybe Wayne played it better than he did, he had already dumped on souths and its players. Broncos bottom half of the 8. if they get there.