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Opinion
Manly are still in the hunt for the finals heading into the NRL’s final six weeks despite gross inconsistency and a season of performance oddity that has made them the most impossible team to read in the competition.
It seems quite fitting that the Sea Eagles are coached by a man with similar uncertainty still surrounding his credentials.
Anthony Seibold arrived as a senior coach in the NRL as a Craig Bellamy protégé and a man touted as a long-term first-grade mentor. His first year in the top job appeared to confirm the commonly held view that Seibold was a coach of the future.
After a kerfuffle over the head coaching job at the Broncos and a swift move north, doubts emerged around Seibold after a first Brisbane wooden spoon in 2020 and a mutual agreement that the coach would depart the club following an early termination to his contract.
Anthony Seibold after winning the 2018 Dally M Coach of the Year award. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
At that moment, the jury was out. Was the Seibold hype overstated? Would he receive a subsequent opportunity to revive his coaching career in the years that followed after taking on an assistant role with the Knights in 2021?
History now tells us that he would and the Sea Eagles came calling after the controversial departure of Des Hasler, following the furore around a pack of bigots who attempted to equate religious beliefs to basic human rights.
From the outside, it appeared to be a witch-hunt intent on seeing the back of one of the most consistent coaches in the NRL.
In stepped Seibold to the unknown with Manly, with positive spin and optimism surrounding his early tenure.
After a soft start and a thumping win against the now embarrassing Bulldogs, the season that has followed reeks of inconsistency thanks to a hodgepodge of results that will have driven the average Manly fan to drink at some stage.
After a pair of wins to open the season against the hapless blue and whites and Parramatta, a heart-breaking 13-12 loss to the Rabbitohs had the Sea Eagles faithful believing that they had a team in which to believe in 2023.
Then, after a 32-all draw with the Knights, the Panthers put forty on Seibold’s men, before a stunning rebound saw the Sea Eagles earn a rare win against a Storm team that was struggling a little at the time.
Almost everybody beats the Tigers these days, yet Manly only just managed to do so in late April before the Titans, Broncos, Sharks and Knights sent them packing over the course of a tough month, with Seibold achieving only the lone win against the Raiders in late May.
Frankly, the Manly report card looks like something of a dog’s breakfast and one potentially appearing even stranger across the remaining six weeks of the season.
A 58-18 win over the Dolphins appeared to re-energise hope, before the Eels trounced the Sea Eagles by 30 at CommBank Stadium. Then the Storm took their revenge before a narrow win against the similarly Jekyll and Hyde Roosters kept the flame of hope alive.
Over the last fortnight, a loss to the Cowboys on home soil and a hanging on for grim death win against the Sharks have solidified Manly as the absolute lucky dip of the NRL competition.
Another season of injury concerns for Tom Trbojevic has played a role in Manly’s inconsistent form. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
It appears on a good day, Daly Cherry-Evans and co. can rustle up plenty of points and on others, look almost as busted as the Dragons, Dogs and Tigers.
The bizarre form raises a few simple questions.
Who on earth are the Manly Sea Eagles? Are they a decent team, a fraud, or simply a middle of the road mob suffering from the expected inconsistency?
More importantly, what does the season say about the coaching of Seibold? There are moments that suggest he could well be the medium term answer for a club starved of success in recent times, and others that resemble his troubled days at the Broncos and all the questions that surrounded it.
Frankly, the jury will remain out, even if the Sea Eagles do muster a late season charge and earn a spot in the finals. With the Dragons, Roosters, Bulldogs and Tigers on the agenda across the final six weeks of the season they could well do so.
But what will we see if they get there? Who knows? In fact, I’m not sure anyone knows.