Anthony Seibold has two games to save his job at Manly Sea Eagles. But the data - and the eye test - suggests it might already be too late for him.
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This article has great insight, backed up with stats and data, explaining why we are not performing. We are doing the same thing over and over, and all the other teams have figured us out. We are predictable.
"This is all germane to Anthony Seibold at the Manly Sea Eagles. He’s deep in the third year blues and, if you listen to wise sources, has two games to save his job.
His side have lost to the worst two teams in the NRL, Newcastle and the Gold Coast, back to back, and are drifting listlessly with a 6-8 record through 14 games.
Given the talent available and the expectations, which are never far off sky high on the Northern Beaches, it’s a major underperformance.
With their draw and the challenges elsewhere in the league at different clubs, the top four was a minimum for 2025. Now, they’d be lucky just to make the finals at all".
"Unfortunately for Manly, the left is nowhere near as strong as the right, with Ben Trbojevic a downgrade on Haumole and Brooks not as effective as DCE.
That set sequence tends to end with another slide – Burbo isn’t effective against the grain like Olakau’atu is – and then the tackles have run out.
That brings about the next bit: Manly’s set ends have fallen off a cliff.
As mentioned above, not all tries are line breaks, so a team that has good short kicking will get a higher percentage as they’re finding tries from other sources.
Luke Brooks has 14 line break assists but just seven try assists, while Daly Cherry-Evans is the only one to outperform his break assists with actual tries. Anyone who saw his kicking against the Titans recently can see how this one works".
"So what happened?
Well, they’re on 78 line breaks but only 55 tries.
Melbourne, for example, have 69 from 69 – that doesn’t make them 100%, as not all tries are line breaks (such as those from kicks, for example), but it does show a ruthlessness. Ditto the Dolphins, on 68 from 68.
In fact, it’s normal for teams to be equal, so a 70% conversion like Manly have is bad. In fact, they’re so awful that only the Knights, Eels and Dragons are behind them – aka three of the worst four in terms of tries scored".
Our coach and halves have a lot to answer for.
