Brad Arthur vs Anthony Seibold

Brad Arthur has had a bit on his plate as Eels coach during his tenure. The debacle created by the former CEO with Kieren Foran's contract, the subsequent salary cap dillema and the inheritance of a fractured roster when he first took on the role as head coach.

In 2017, we made an amazing rush towards the finals, led by the likes of Semi, Mitch Moses and Corey Norman! We fell short, but, if we're all being honest, we probably went as far as we were going to that year.

In 2018 there was much expectation. Jarryd was back at the club. We finished 4th the year prior and things looked like they were heading north. We played one trial and belted the Knights. We turned up at Penrith Park in Round 1 and looked like world beaters until 10 minutes before half time when Waqa Blake scored his try. The second half, they steamrolled us. Round 2, it was 50 degrees and BA decided, for reasons best known to himself, to run the players on Brookvale for some 20 minutes, in the heat, before kick off. We got beaten by 50 points.

Those two results caused our confidence to be shot and we came last in 2018, yet the whole time, after every painful loss, BA fronted up at the press conference - always referred to the team as 'us' and 'we', not 'the players', and admitted that, despite effort at training, the team was down in confidence and that both he, and the players, would keep fronting up because things would 'eventually turn around'. 

I certainly didn't see any players laughing one week or crying the next! They seemed generally peeved after every loss - as they should!

The club, rightfully, undertook a review and gave BA an ultimatum in 2019 - start winning or piss off! We had an up and down start to the season, but, there were positive things happening and the club - to its credit - took a conservative approach. One of the reasons they did so is because the players seemingly all loved their coach. The players wanted to be at the club and they wanted to enjoy the success, as a group, when it inevitably came.

The club noted that and didn't fall for the cynical tactics of player managers. They stood firm on their stance with Gutho, Moses, Lane, Jennings, Dylan Brown and even the coach himself. They re-signed all of them - and at an appropriate value. Nobody is getting 'underpaid' and nobody is on 'silly money' and underperforming. The result? Team harmony! A sense of togetherness.

Before the start of this crazy season, BA admitted he made 'some errors' in 2018 and had sought to remedy them during the 2019 and 2020 pre-season. It's refreshing to hear a coach admit to his mistakes.

Now, I found it extraordinarily telling on the weekend that BA, in his presser, spoke about how the team wanted to "show the captain what they think of him" in his 100th match by putting a cricket score on the Cows. A complete 'team first' platitude in response to a well-rounded and quality performance to reward an entirely 'team first' oriented player and captain. That's the sort of public comment that 'buys you tickets' with the playing group!

Compare that with Seibold who, despite his throng of underperforming big money players in Croft, Milford and Boyd, decided to drop the winger, Corey Oates! The root of the problem! Now, Corey didn't come out and say, "well, my performance has been down and Seibs had every right to drop me". No! He said, "I was really disappointed to be dropped and I was dirty on the coach". Didn't even mention Seibold by name!

This idiot has some 7 SOO players running around each week, and with one of the most dynamic and explosive forward packs I've ever seen! How many do we have! Yet he places himself at arms length from the performances of his team, insisting that 'he's a good coach', 'his messaging is sound' and 'he's taken his teams to the semis in both his years as a first grade coach'! An examination of his record as head coach at lower levels shows that his record is anything but good!

Seibold has clearly lost the dressing room! Something that BA never did during our darkest hours!

Now, Seibold was supposed to be the new breed of 'technical coach' fit for the new age of rugby league! Gone are the days of the Wayne Bennett's of the world - the man managers! Gone are the days of the Brad Arthur's! The "bush coaches" of the game!

We've won nothing yet so please don't see this as any form of gloat - but, there's a few blokes on this forum - who, despite never lacing up a boot, or making a tackle in anger, generally think know more than everyone else when it comes to the inner workings of a rugby league football team - that death rode our coach.

At the end of this season, we may well be disapointed yet again. But, in the current climate - riding the 2020 version of the coaching merry-go-round, I for one, am happy we have the "bush coach" at the helm of our great club! 

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      • And even I will agree with you Bourbs.

        Bush Coach wins PREMIERSHIP! - I will write the blog myself.

        BUT.........................................

      • Of course, I would too. Happy to be shown up as wrong but I will stick with my view. 

  • Seibold for Dally M coach of the year. Seibold will lift the Broncos off the bottom of the ladder in Week 20, miraculously avoiding the spoon, and that will be enough to win Dally M coach of the year according to the Slater MOM principle. 

  • Great one, mate. I always enjoy reading your blogs, Bourbon. They're also brilliantly written, well-crafted.

    You hit the nail on the head: "A complete 'team first' platitude". 

    That's been the foundation, from administration, the top right through the playing group.  That will also be the key when we hit turbulence.

    It makes me recall the 2019 pre-season and the 2018 review, after the annus horribilis of 2018. At that point ominous signs hovered over Arthur's future and many players at the club. Players like Jennings looked done. Everyone looked miserable and the team played that way, too. Compare that to now: we look like a happy team, even if we haven't realised our entire potential. Yet.

    Perhaps, the lines in the sand were drawn then, when lay knocked-out on the canvas. I recall the teary pre-season bonding sessions late 2018-early 2019. At the time, there was some raised eyebrows, and LOL scoffing at grown men's tears, but Arthur needed to find a way to give the players purpose: a why to play for each other. I recall thinking it's a bit like war: soldiers end up fighting for the guys standing shoulder to shoulder with him in the mud.  It's no co-incidence Arthur has used that "shoulder to shoulder" and "playing for each other" line at pressors over the last two years as we've risen.

    Perhaps, the Broncos could learn something from us, this time.

    Most of us realize Arthur isn't the strategic King of Kings (perhaps he can evolve that aspect, further) but no-one can claim he hasn't lifted his arse off the canvas after been bashed, pillar to pillar. He's got a chin and has proven to be a good player manager -  a "father figure" who has the dressing room. However, applauds aside: I'd like to see him develop even further, tactically, mastering the Art Of War, one-day. And he's proven he wants to develop, so why not continue...

    For me, the real question is: is this the beginning of a new tougher culture in the club, ridding us of our soft underbelly? The signs are extremely positive so far, the best in decades, and yet relatively speaking, in the big scheme of things, the journey has only begun.

  • The good coaches work hard on getting their systems right. Bellamy and Robinson are prime examples. They have very specific ways of training and playing and firmly believe if you drop any young player into their system they will improve and the team will play consistently well regardless of who wears the jersey. No one is bigger than the club.
    Parra now have that. BA is far from perfect but he now has a team he developed believing in their systems and each other. Even if we're disappointed at the end of the year BA has the club in a far, far better place than where he found it. No easy feat.
    Seibold is a myth. Plain and simple. The 2019 Broncos who played finals footy were the worst finals team I've ever seen and got what they deserved in their game against us. The rot at the Broncos didn't start this year, they were horrible last year too.
    I don't agree they have the best young forward pack in the comp. They have some great individual prospects in Haas and Fifita but that's it. And their highlight reels of the occasional big run or big hit are nowhere near enough to carry a team through a full NRL season. The rest of the pack are pretty average.
    The Bronco's spine is the worst in the NRL. Easily. 1,7,6,9 would struggle to get a run at any of the other 15 clubs. Their recruitment and retention has been horrible. As you say they've paid huge money for underperforming and even non-performing players (Bird). They've moved on experience and quality and retained duds that should have retired years ago.
    I have no sympathy for them. There's no headlines about the Titans or the Dogs. The Knights won a bunch of spoons in a row. But because it's the almighty Broncos it's apparently some huge travesty. Welcome to reality Brisbane. Enjoy.

  • Ole Bushy is hanging in there Bourbs, HOWEVER is still under 50% win/loss at 49%

    Now everyone here has seen me wear egg on my face and I would be more than happy to do it again (particularly for the big trophy), HOWEVER I don't hear the hens cackling just yet.

    Good blog mate.

  • I had my doubts about BA and in some ways i still do in some aspects 

    One thing that sets him apart from Seibold it seems BA is a good man manager the players buy into what he wants and he earned there trust and now were starting to see that trust being rewarded

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