Manly-Warringah have confirmed the appointment of Anthony Seibold as its head coach for the 2023 season and beyond.
The Sea Eagles announced the news in a statement, confirming that the former Dally M Coach of the Year had inked a three-year deal with the club that would see him at the helm of Manly until at least the end of the 2025 NRL season.
Seibold will be supported by new assistant coaches in Shane Flanagan and Jim Dymock, who have also agreed to three-year deals with the Sea Eagles.
"I'm very excited to be the head coach of the Manly Sea Eagles," Seibold told Manly Media.
"Manly has a proud history so to get the opportunity to coach the team in 2023 and beyond is fantastic and I’m really humbled and honoured to be the head coach."
Seibold returns to Sydney's northern beaches after spending time as an assistant coach under Trent Barrett before joining the Rabbitohs as their head coach in 2018.
In his first year as the Rabbitohs coach, Seibold guided the club to a third-placed finish and Preliminary Final, and was named the Dally M Coach of the Year.
The following season he joined Brisbane, where he coached for two seasons, before mutually agreeing to an early termination of his contract after a tough 2020 campaign that saw the Broncos finish with the wooden spoon.
Manly has a proud history so to get the opportunity to coach the team in 2023 and beyond is fantastic and I’m really humbled and honoured to be the head coach.
New Manly coach Anthony Seibold
He later joined the Newcastle Knights as an assistant for the 2021 season before linking up with the England national rugby union team later that year, working as a defence coach under former Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones.
"One of the things I’m really proud of is the last 16 months going to a different country and a different sport and being able to have some success in a different code, it certainly rounded me as a coach," Seibold said.
"Having coached for a long period of time I know some seasons are more challenging than others but I bring great experience to the position and what attracted me to Manly was the proud history of the club.
"Having worked with Tom and Jake Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans in the past, those relationships, plus the potential and talent I see in the current squad, I see there is an opportunity to build and bring some success to the Manly team.
"I’ve been able to bring in some assistant coaches with great experience - Shane Flanagan is a premiership-winning coach with Cronulla who brings a great deal of experience.
"To have someone sitting beside you who has been in your shoes, they come with a greater empathy and understanding of the challenges presented day to day and week to week.
"Shane will look after our attack and that will be built upon over the pre-season but there's one thing that's non-negotiable and that's those effort areas of the game.
"I've always been biased towards the things that don't take skill or talent, and that's where we want to try and drive the playing group, try and improve the playing group in those areas."
Sea Eagles CEO Tony Mestrov said the appointments signal a new beginning for the club.
“Anthony has an incredible knowledge of the game and what is required at the highest level,’’ Mestrov said.
"We believe Anthony is the ideal person to lead this very talented and strong playing group to achieve success in the years ahead."
