Truly, Mudgee, deeply: Seibold's support key to NRL's bush bash success

He grew up playing rugby league in Central Queensland and now Manly coach Anthony Seibold has taken his in-form Sea-Eagles away from the bright lights of 4 Pines Park to a regional rugby league heartland, hoping to continue their early season success.

On a week home-ground advantage would usually play a big factor after suffering their first loss of the season to the Rabbitohs last week, the Sea-Eagles packed their bags and headed west to spend some time in Mudgee.

Their new home away from home, Glen Willow Oval, has grown to include a bush footy community the Sea Eagles have become enamoured with since their first venture west in 2021.

“It was an unfortunate loss last week, despite the effort being there, so we’ve taken the opportunity this week as a club to go to Mudgee a little bit earlier and not only get the team together but show how invested we are in the town,” Manly Sea Eagles CEO Tony Mestrov told NRL.com.

“Anthony (Seibold), being from Rockhampton originally knows what it’s like to come through the rugby league systems from a regional area.

“As part of a role, we’ve all got a responsibility to the game to make sure it continues to grow, whether that’s as a player, coach or administrator. We’re all in it for the long haul and Anthony has really embraced that.

“We’re invested in the area and this is hopefully something we will continue to do in the future.”

Mudgee Mayor Des Kennedy said support from the NRL coaches is vital in continuing the town's hosting tradition and it was fitting that it was Seibold who brought the Rabbitohs to Mudgee in 2018 for Glen Willow Oval's first Charity Shield match.

Five years later as Seibold returns to the bustling country town in his first year as Manly's head coach, Kennedy said the former Dally M coach of the year was quick to throw his support behind the regional fixture.  

“The number one thing is you’ve got to get the coach on board because it’s the coach's home game and they live by their win and loss ratios,” Kennedy said.

“If the coach isn’t onboard, they won’t come so we’re lucky 'Seibs' has been onside and he’s been really great to work with.

“He understands that this game gives bush kids what city kids take for granted every week. We’ve got to give these kids something to aspire to and when they can see the Trbojevic brothers and Daly Cherry-Evans running around – that’s something they won’t forget.”

Kennedy said in the six years since Seibold first loaded a bus full of NRL stars and hit the road to Mudgee, the local junior rugby league club has seen a growth of over 40 per cent in registration numbers.

“We’ve got about 380 kids registered to play rugby league. In age groups where we couldn’t get one team years ago, we’ve got two teams playing now,” Kennedy said.

“The town has definitely grown over those years but not that fast so it’s not a coincidence that numbers have increased since we started hosting the NRL games.

“Manly came on Tuesday and they’ve been visiting all the schools, they’ll have a captain's run on Friday and the kid just flock to the oval. I can’t tell you how much seeing these players mean to kids from the bush.”

Prior to the match, the Mudgee Dragons Rugby League Club's Premier Division side will kick off Round 1 of the Peter (Ace) McDonald Premiership against the defending premiers Forbes Magpies as a curtain raiser to the Round 5 NRL clash.

Mudgee Dragons President Cameron McCall said there has been “a real buzz” around the club leading up to Saturday’s double-header and a particularly special week for a couple of lucky Dragons players.

“Manly needed a few more players to complete their training session on Wednesday, so a couple of our younger players jumped in with them,” he said. “That would have given them a real buzz to run around with Trbojevic and Cherry-Evans as it’s not something a kid from Mudgee gets to do everyday.”

“It’s no secret that bush footy is struggling, a lot of teams in other areas have folded. But Mudgee and the Western Division as a whole, seem to be going really well. You can see a lot of players like Matt Burton and Isaah Yeo have come from our competition.

“We have a couple of former NRL players Jack Littlejohn and Clay Priest join our club and I think for them to come to Mudgee and give back to bush footy has been a real kick for us.”