In my opinion, that was a coached loss. This is likely going to stir up a few people after just two losses, but there were telltale signs that was Seibold's loss, not the team's.
How can you tell?
When you're getting repeat sets on the goaline of one of the worst defensive teams in the comp, and you're looking completely like the Blues in Origin 2 last year. Looking seemingly for individual efforts to get you tries, with absolutely no shape at all. Brooks, DCE, Turbo, Koula, Garrick, etc etc you should have no problem at all scoring points, if you have some sort of attacking structure.
I don't think I saw a decoy in attack until Haumole's try in the last five minutes, and I can bet on it that it wasn't Seibold that called for that, it was DCE. I'm remembering how Seibold was said to be completely overcomplicating things at the Broncos, and I can guarantee you the same is occuring here. Individual efforts alone seem to be getting us tries, and masking an attacking system that is completely confused.
I think the biggest symptom is Schuster. The fact is, Hasler was fine with him being the 5/8 in 2023. In fact, in 2021, Schuster looked really good as a 5/8 under Hasler, and he looked alright in early 2023 too, before, what it seemed to be, getting the skill coached out of him. I'm talking about his offence here, his defence is a different story.
Now, you could say that was before every other team figured out how to shut him down in offence, and that is true in some regards, but the fact is that Seibold said that he was looking at Brooks in MAY last year. If he was doing that, he was looking before, even earlier in the season. That tells me, he's a coach unwilling to put in the same effort on players like Schuster, and improve them no matter how hard, as opposed to Hasler. Hasler was a micromanager. He was dedicated and committed. Calling people at 3am in the night to talk about some incredible game plan idea he thought about in bed, to win now, no matter the excuse (this story
is true).
Seibold looks like he's always looking towards winning in the future than winning now, as if he's given up on winning now. Think about the injury ravaged stretch in 2022 (before Pride) and 2023. Des somehow found a way to win against Melbourne. We got smashed by a Parramatta side without Mitchell Moses, or anyone really. Why put in effort in as a player, when the coach won't put effort into you, and give up on you for the rest of the year?
Add to that Schuster saying last year that he "doesn't listen to the coaches very much". Is that a symptom of his laziness, or of Seibold's overcomplications, or both? Something tells me it's both.
That first half was like we were taking right off from the end of the Eels game, but without the obstructions or dodgy penalities. That was all us. What were we doing for a week? The exact same problems were there.
If we don't make the finals, it's rebuild time. The fact is, if we don't make the finals, DCE won't consider an extension and will retire next year (or this year potentially). What do we do from there? Seibold is clearly going for results now, cop the consequences later. Haumole until 2031, Paulo for three years (???), Brooks for 4 years (???), and Schuster for 4 years (???). Seemingly just to keep them here for his next two years that he is signed for. If we want any sort of premiership while Tom and Jake are still here, given the lack of replacement options for DCE, we need to win now. I can't see that happening under Seibold.
I feel like we'll be looking back in 10 years, looking at the team lists from the Barrett and Seibold years, seeing DCE, Tom, and Jake on them, and wondering; what the hell went wrong? Scott Penn has to have the worst record of coaching decisions I've ever seen. Sacks Tooves with a winning record of 57%, hires Barrett, sacks Barrett for Des, after getting sacked by the Dogs (accidental masterstroke), fires Des for something that was clearly not his fault, and hires the man that was sacked by Darius Boyd, of all people. And if you don't believe Des was good, he was the only one of these coaches to have a strong winning record, until the pride jersey, which took his winning record in his second stint to 49%. Moan all you want, you don't clean out an entire football club, CEO, Coach, and all, without there being massive problems beyond said coach. Even with 49%, compared to Seibold and Barrett, that's incredible. And under Hasler, that was with an objectively tight salary cap.
Why do you think Seibold has done such "incredible" recruitment that we haven't seen in years? DCE's salary has dropped significantly, and the cap has increased. Des would've been recruiting too.
I was holding off on Seibold this year, on paper he made great changes and I was optimistic, but boom, straight back to our worst last year. To me, unless something dramatic changes, this performance is indicative, 100%, of how we will go this year. And I'm normally an optimist on Manly, but I'm sick of this club sticking by awful decisions, again and again.
