Amongst the assaults, scandals and big name player exchanges, the 2018-19 NRL pre-season will be remembered by the dramatic and long-winded coaching swap between South Sydney and Brisbane, which saw Anthony Siebold head to Suncorp and Wayne Bennett return to Sydney.
Two coaches in different stages of their career, and two of the most iconic brands in Australian sport. Undoubtedly fans from both clubs will be left rather satisfied that the swap occurred, as opposed to be left hung out to dry by a sudden coaching departure.
But after the dust has settled, the question remains: which club got the better deal?
The Broncos – Anthony Seibold
In Anthony Siebold, the Brisbane Broncos have acquired an astute man-manager and rugby league tactician with a long career ahead of him.
There was a notable slickness to South Sydney’s attack last season, and when his side settled into the flow with the ball in hand, there was no defence that could stop them.
This is where the Broncos will certainly benefit most, particularly their halves pairing of Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima, who were horribly inconsistent last season.
In the forwards, the Broncos have some exceptional young talent, many of whom were given opportunities through 2018 by Bennett.
However, the loss of Origin star Josh McGuire and the retirement of Sam Thaiday in the off-season does leave Brisbane a little drier in terms of experience, which is something Seibold relied on heavily throughout his opening stint with South Sydney last year.
It will be interesting to see how the side handles the middle period of the season, during which the club is often tested through it’s typically strong Origin representation.
The coaching exchange certainly adds spice to what is already a huge matchup on the regular season calendar. Especially now following the fiery comments made by Seibold in regards to Bennett’s conduct during the swap, in which he reportedly called the Supercoach out for contacting Souths players before the swap had officially been signed off.
Rabbitohs – Wayne Bennett
Like Seibold, Wayne Bennett knows how to get the most out of his players mentally, and his ‘Supercoach’ status says everything about his tactical ability.
Bennett’s signing by the Rabbitohs signifies that the club knows they are in a premiership window, and that they have an opportunity to do something special this year.
Wayne Bennett is moving to South Sydney ahead of the 2019 season (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
There’s no coach that can turn a top four finish into a premiership like Wayne Bennett, with his tenure at St. George Illawarra providing the perfect example.
The Dragons at the time had a top roster, and perfect balance between their forwards and backs, but were just missing that know-how in the coaches box. Along came Bennett and the Red V had a minor premiership in his first year, and a premiership the year following.
You can almost envisage the same thing happening this year with South Sydney.
On top of this, is the relationship Bennett has with the all-important Burgess brothers through their time with England. 2018 showed how important Tom, George and Sam were to South’s fortunes, and Bennett knows how to get them moving.
Whilst there are still some question marks surrounding how Souths will lineup in round one, simply having Wayne Bennett there will transform the way the club operates.
The verdict
Whilst Wayne Bennett’s coaching record speaks for itself, he isn’t bulletproof, particularly when referring to his time at other clubs.
Yes, he won a premiership with the Dragons in 2010, and nearly guided Newcastle to a grand final in 2013, but beyond that he’s also had his struggles.
Given his age, Wayne Bennett’s time at the Rabbitohs is a short-term experiment. You can’t picture the supercoach still in red and green in five years time. Therefore, instant impact will be crucial.
Seibold on the other hand, is only in his second year as a head coach, and is therefore a longer-term investment from the Broncos. The club’s administration will give him time to adopt his own systems and roster.
And going off his instant impact with the Rabbitohs in 2018, Seibold can coach.
The question then is, if the Rabbitohs could choose between Anthony Seibold and Wayne Bennett, who would they pick?
I have no doubt they’d be picking Seibold.
William W
Roar Rookie
That is Rubbish BA Sports about not facing square on. Which club do you support? Watch other clubs, they get up and step to one side so the markers are offside. The Dogs and Rorters are good at doing this.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Nah. You are completely unable to relate to people are are in their teens and 20s.
steveng
Roar Rookie
that's not quite right "I think they won 2 from there last 7 round matches)…..and Seibold didn’t seem to have a plan B" yes Seibold didn't have a plan B but, Souths had a 50% record in their last 8 rounds of 2018, the results were: R18 - Souths – 24 vs Bulldogs 06, R19 - Souths – 06 vs Wests/Tigers 22, R20 - Souths – 26 vs Eels 20, R21 - Souths – 30 vs Storm 20, R22 - Souths – 14 vs Roosters 18, R23 - Souths – 18 vs Broncos 38, R24 - Souths – 12 vs Raiders 24 and R25 - Souths – 51 vs Wests/Tigers 10. In the last 4 rounds they lost 3 and won 1 which was very ordinary and Seibold had no idea what to do especially with some of the injuries that we had.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
Depends on the colour of your eyes I guess. To me, Souths got away (ad nauseum) with quick play the balls where they were not facing the goal line. Cook would pick up with no markers in front of him and run because the defender was either on the ground, or away on the angle the attacker played the ball, or the defnder was deemed not to be square (when it was the play the ball that was at fault). Good luck to them they got away with it for a long time – but everyone knows penalties are harder to come by when the games get more important.
Emcie
Roar Guru
You can report it (the flag in the corner) and ask the admins to remove it
William W
Roar Rookie
Acknowledged and Apology to Edward Chisholm How do I delete the original comment?
WarHorse
Roar Rookie
Haha Good one.
Mad max
Guest
Yes you're wrong and I correct. Get off your backside and work out your own inaccuracies.
db
Guest
The article you cite has a link at the bottom stating the article was originally published elsewhere. The link brings you back to 'The Roar' article. So it seems Edward Chisholm is the original author.
William W
Roar Rookie
This comment has been removed at the poster's request.
Larry1950
Guest
Lot of cranky Rabbitoh supporters now reckon Seibold can't coach & got lucky in 2018 but facts indicate that he did really well with a team missing key players with injuries/suspension for lengthy periods & they actually ran the roosters closer than the Storm in the semi. He can coach & the Bronco kids will benefit from having a younger coach. Bennett also did well under difficult circumstances as injuries impacted his squad plus the grind caught up with the kids, they really missed Alex Glenn as a steady influence in that Dragons debacle but I reckon Bennett got caught out in letting them think they lucked out with the out of form finals opponent. Both can coach but Seibold is the best fit for the Broncos future prospects, can't hear the same speech forever.
buttery
Roar Rookie
I agree with your observations on the easing up of the crackdown in the ruck area as to the cause of Souths struggling the last 1/4 of the season plus the Injuries to some of the key backline players. I was pissed when they eased up on that crackdown & surprised at the ex player commentators continually complaining about it as I thought it opened up the game & the footy was exciting.
Battler
Roar Rookie
He seems reluctant to use wrestling like the storm or rorters do. I put that partly on the NRL who figured out a fine way to put an end to it after the start of 2018 and then let clubs do whatever the hell they wanted after about 10 rounds, but there's no doubt that Wayne wasn't as effective in promoting it as Craig 'Vince McMahon' Bellamy and others.
Battler
Roar Rookie
Seibold must be the goods if the Rabbits were desperate to re-sign him and went to Wayne as a last resort after they'd given Seibold months to make his decision when it was obvious he was leaving. The Rabbits fans saying they're glad he's gone and they got the better of the deal are writing a bit of revisionist history. Put it this way, with the age of their coach and squad and the injury history of several of their key players, the Rabbits have a 1-2 year window to win the comp if blokes who traditionally miss huge chunks of the season like GI and Arey stay fit.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Clearly the punt by voicemail tells us the Broncos weren't..and we've done Newcastle to death so not going there,suffice to say they were far from satisfied with their bang for 'master' coach buck.
Matt H
Roar Guru
Bennett’s record this decade still includes a minor premiership in his first year at the Dragons and a premiership in his second, a preliminary final in his time at Newcastle and a grand final in 2015 with the broncos. If most clubs had had that record, they would be reasonably satisfied.
Emcie
Roar Guru
I'll correct you mate, Bennett finished 3 wins and 130 odd for and against points away from missing the 8 in 2018 (though it's a bit silly to single the Broncos out when only one win seperated 8th from 1st). And Bennetts record of around 45% win rate (with a third of his tenure taken up by a horror 2014 where everything went wrong) still puts him in the top 5 knights coaches ever, and no coach has gotten more then a 45% win rate at the knights post joey.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
That's true AE but plenty of other coaches need a bit of latitude when they're battling the odds of instability and poor rosters as well as Wayne.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
It is wrongly assumed that coaches and players will naturally improve after their first year but history shows that a fair number of them have their best results in year one and it's all down hill from there. I wouldn't have a clue with Seibold but if he doesn't do well he'll have a terrible time with the Kev Walters old boy groupies and even the Wayne Bennett good old days crowd.
Paul
Roar Guru
I completely agree William and so do the stats. Guys like Jack Gibson, Tim Sheens and Arthur Halloway were all totally capable of winning premierships, SOO series or coaching the Australian Test side in their '60s. The Americans get this, with guys coaching top flight sport well into their seventies and even on rare occasion, into their eighties