Anthony Seibold’s tenure as Manly coach is over after the Sea Eagles sacked their head coach just three games into the NRL season.
Less than 24 hours after Manly great Daly Cherry-Evans sunk the boot into the Sea Eagles at Brookvale, Seibold was called into a meeting with Manly bosses on Friday.
There he was told that he would not continue as coach, with Manly now looking at options to replace him both for the rest of this season and into the future.
Seibold had been under pressure to keep his job midway through last year, but with a growing injured list Manly bosses wanted to give him a chance to turn things around.
But the club’s bosses did not see signs of improvement over the opening rounds of this season, with Manly winless and having dropped their first three games at home.
Anthony Seibold looks on during the round two match against Newcastle. (Getty Images: Matt King)
The call was then made to axe Seibold less than a month into the 2026 campaign with the view it could still leave the Sea Eagles time to save their season.
Pressure mounted on the 51-year-old coach after Friday night’s 33-16 loss to Sydney Roosters, with fans chanting “Seibold out” late in the game, during which Cherry-Evans played a starring role for the visitors.
Ultimately, it took less than a day for them to be granted their wish.
Manly have Jim Dymock and Kieran Foran as assistant coaches who could take over in an interim capacity.
One coach they can’t look at long term is Willie Peters, who this week agreed to take on the new PNG NRL franchise. It’s understood Manly had spoken to Peters in the past.
Brad Arthur would be one option after being an assistant at Manly in 2013. Matt Ballin is another, and would carry favour with the club’s old boys.
Seibold took over from Des Hasler as Manly coach in 2023, taking the Sea Eagles to the second week of the finals the following year.
He was handed an extension at the end of 2024 for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, but has now been axed just three games into that new contract.
In just over three years at the club Seibold had a 48 per cent winning rate with 37 wins, 38 losses and two draws.
Seibold is the first coach to be sacked this early in a season since Jason Taylor at Wests TIgers in 2017.
AAP
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