Seibold hits back after Demetriou’s coaching spray

RUGBY LEAGUE: A war of words threatens to escalate into an all-out feud after Broncos mentor Anthony Seibold delivered a stunning rebuke torabbitohs assistant Jason Demetriou.

Ahead of tonight’s clash between the two clubs at Suncorp Stadium, Seibold dismisseddemetriou’s criticism of his finals record and suggested he was “dirty” over missing out on his Broncos’ head coach job.

“He has obviously forgotten a fewthings and that is probably why he is not a head coach at the moment – his attention to detail is obviously a little bit off,” Seibold said. The stage appeared set for Seibold to trade barbs with veteran South Sydney mentor Wayne Bennett ahead of this week’smatch after their messy coaching job swap last year.

But surprisingly it was Demetriou who came out swinging, claiming Seibold’s 2018 finals campaign in his rookie NRL coaching year with South Sydney fell short because other teams had “worked his style out”.

Demetriou’s spray was seen as payback for Seibold claiming last week that South Sydney’s attack had not changed since 2018 when he held the reins.

Seibold suggested Demetriou was jealous he missed out on replacing Bennett at Brisbane.

“One thing I learned a long time ago is as an assistant coach you put your head down, bum up and work hard. You don’t need to promote yourself,” Seibold said.

“I am not sure whether he is dirty that his name hasn’t come up for a couple of head coaching roles recently.”

Asked if he had a history with Demetriou, Seibold said: “I don’t know him from a bar of soap. I can’t believe we are standing here talking about Jason Demetriou.”

— Laine Clark