NRL 360 host Braith Anasta has asked why Manly coach Anthony Seibold would need Laurie Daley as a sounding board and labelled it as a “strange role” for the NSW coach to have.
No official offer has been made to Daley by the Sea Eagles as yet but he and Seibold are due to meet this week to go over the finer details for the position.
Anasta questioned reporter Dean Ritchie on what Daley’s role with Manly would look like.
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“What could it possibly be?” Anasta asked.
“What sort of role?”
“I think it’s going to be along the lines of a sounding board for Anthony Seibold,” Ritchie replied.
Anasta was left perplexed.
“I’m a bit confused,” Anasta said.
“If Anthony Seibold is looking to step away from head coaching to be head of football, why does the possible next head of football need a sounding board?
“If he’s about to just take over as head of football, you would think he wouldn’t need a sounding board, he’d just need an assistant coach.”
Co-host Gorden Tallis even suggested the move could be interpreted as a “PR stunt” by the Sea Eagles.
“You just hope it’s not a PR stunt from Manly to try to get one of the most popular guys in our game,” Tallis said.
Anasta felt the proposed role was odd.
“I think Laurie would be a great sounding board if that’s what they’re after,” Anasta said.
“He’s very experienced, one of the greatest to play the game and he’d be enormous in that regard.
“It’s just a bit of a strange role.”
Veteran reporter Paul Crawley believed the Sea Eagles would need a lot more than Daley in a sounding board role to address the tensions within their camp.
“The questions that have come out of that club this year more relate to what’s happening within the club and the dynamics between the coaching staff, and I’m talking about Seibold and other coaching staff and then you’re talking about the players and some of the players,” Crawley said.
“Will that fix the problem? Laurie’s a bloke that’s been around the game. We all know he’s one of the most likeable fellas in the game.
“He’s got great experience but is that going to fix the machinations inside that club? That’s what you ask yourself.
“Because the problems that they had this year go beyond Seibold having someone to shoot things through with.”
Ritchie also pointed out that if Daley were to take a role with Manly that it would leave him open to possible accusations of having a conflict of interest if he selects Sea Eagles players in the Blues team.
“The only concern I’ve got is Laurie is the Origin coach for NSW,” Ritchie said.
“If he is aligned to an NRL club, is there potential accusations of conflict of interest if a couple of the Manly players get picked?”
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But Crawley dismissed that suggestion, and felt as though it would only be an issue if Daley was a head coach in the NRL at the same time as being NSW coach.
“The NSWRL have only had a problem with giving the job to a head (NRL) coach,” Crawley said.
Anasta wondered whether Daley would be better served focusing his attention solely on the Blues given they lost the series this year.
“What I would say though is Laurie’s got a fair job ahead of him with NSW,” Anasta added.
“He’s going to have a lot of heat on him (next year) to deliver after (this year) so he doesn’t want any distractions.”
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