‘Speculation of us losing players’: Sea Eagles not worried about Des Hasler threat

Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold isn’t worried about the prospect of his players being lured to the Titans after former Manly coach Des Hasler was given the top job at the Gold Coast starting next year.

Hasler won premierships with the Sea Eagles in 2008 and 2011 and then enjoyed more success in his second stint before he was punted last year after four seasons in charge, with Seibold coming in to replace him.

There are fears the veteran coach could use his close relationships with some of the players to bring them up to Queensland, but Seibold is confident the club has put things in place to encourage Manly’s current crop of players to stay.

“Dessie is a great coach and I’m really happy for him, but I’m not going to talk about the speculation of us losing players,” he said.

“We know the environment that we’ve created here at Manly, and I feel as though you’ve seen improvement in our group this year, and we’ll continue to get better.”

It looks like Seibold has had an early win, with Tolu Koula expected to sign a new deal after he was originally linked with a move to rugby union.

The speedster has had a quiet year but is seen as one of the most exciting outside backs in the game.

“I think it’s pretty close. I don’t think he’s actually put pen to paper, but my understanding is that it’s close,” Seibold said.

“There are some good things happening in the background. The environment we’ve created here, guys can see a genuine vision for where we want to take the group. Tolu is a big part of that, so we’re hoping to have that finalised very soon.”

Seibold also paid tribute to Justin Holbrook after he was sacked by the Titans in a move that no one saw coming, including Holbrook and Gold Coast senior adviser Mal Meninga.

The coaching fraternity always sticks solid when one of its brethren loses his job, and Seibold hopes the Holbrook news provides some perspective to the public about the toll this can have on someone after he went through something similar in 2020 when the Broncos sacked him midway through the season.

“I’m not sure of the circumstances, but what I will say is that I worked with Justin back in 2015 with the Junior Kangaroos,” he said.

“He was a great coach to work with and he obviously had success over with St Helens, so I’m sure he’ll get another role.

“It’s hard having gone through the experience I did at the Broncos, so I know what it feels like as far as things not working out the way you want them to, so you always feel for a coach.

“The reality of it is that it’s a game. The wellbeing of Justin and his family or any coach – you look at Anthony Griffin recently – is (paramount). You want to put some support around them, but we’ve also got to put some perspective as well.

“As long as things are communicated the right way and a coaching change happens, then that’s fine. But I just think it’s a game and we need to put things in perspective here.

“We’re not trying to save lives out here.

“We’re trying to provide opportunities for young men to achieve their goals, and we’re trying to provide the community, our supporters, members and sponsors who love our game with a release from their day-to-day grind every single week.”