Seibold key to steeling Knights
ONE year after Brisbane unceremoniously sacked Anthony Seibold, Newcastle players have credited him with helping the Knights surge to back-to-back finals appearances for the first time in 18 years.
As Broncos coach, Seibold was accused of “over coaching” and “overloading” players with data.
At Newcastle, where Seibold is a consultant to head coach Adam O’Brien, stats have been replaced by “effort areas”.
“He has really narrowed our focus into all the small effort areas that there are no stats for,” forward Sauaso Sue said. “I think that has been shown in our defence. I’m really grateful for his input.”
After 13 rounds, the Knights had leaked 342 points. But with two games left to play only 180 points have been conceded since the midway point of the season.
Utility back Kurt Mann said Seibold had been crucial in turning Newcastle’s defence around.
“We’ve defended a lot better compared to where we were at the start of the year. There are a few areas we have improved in, effort areas, and that sort of stuff. We’ve had Anthony Seibold take over that role here,” Mann said. “That’s what we’ve improved on and he’s been pushing really hard. What we call chase backs and that kind of stuff.”
There had been speculation Seibold’s role within the Newcastle coaching staff had expanded.
But O’Brien said the former Broncos and South Sydney coach had stepped in as a temporary replacement for defensive coach Rory Kostjasyn, who did not immediately travel to the Sunshine Coast but has since rejoined the group.
Regardless of Seibold’s role, Knights players appear to be responding to his approach, which includes weekly video sessions.
“He presents those (effort) areas for us in meetings and does our review in that area and that probably was our biggest area for improvement mid-year and I think we’ve improved massively in that area,” Mann said.
“We’re leaking less points and we are doing little things that probably the average person doesn’t really see at home. But they are massive when it comes into the meetings, they’re the stuff that the boys really get up for.
“We’ve been defending really well. We’ve been defending like a top-eight team.”
While the Knights have turned their defence around, Mann conceded his side is still “leaving points on the field”.
But Mann insisted the seventh-placed Knights have enough strike power to cement a finals berth with two rounds left to play, starting against fellow top-eight hopeful the Gold Coast Titans on Thursday night.
“We’ve got a lot of strike weapons on the field and we’d like to use them a bit better this week and leading into the weeks following,” Mann said.