“It’s madness”.
That is The Australian’s Brent Read’s assessment of the Sea Eagles’ decision to sack Anthony Seibold after only three games, and three losses in 2026.
Kieran Foran has been appointed Manly’s interim head coach for the remainder of the season after a horror loss to the Roosters on Thursday night.
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Daly Cherry-Evans, the club’s former captain, delivered for his new club the Roosters at Brookvale Oval and chants rang out from the Sea Eagles faithful for Seibold to be sacked.
The club’s ownership listened and moved quickly, but Read wasn’t buying it.
“It’s madness to sack a coach three games into a season or four rounds. I find it astonishing,” Read said on NRL360 on Monday night.
Seibold’s axing came after his side slumped to 10th in 2025, reached the semi finals a year earlier and finished 12th in 2023 — his debut season at the club.
Manly owner Scott Penn said the club needed to “win now” and Seibold wasn’t the man for the job moving forward, but Read believes his record was not as bad as first thought.
“Everyone keeps bringing up his record, we brought it up last week, 18 months ago they made the finals,” he said.
“Last year they went 12 and 12, most years that gets you into the finals. I know they ended the season poorly… but it’s not as if they had a shocking season.
“This year, they have started the year poorly and last three games at home. They were really poor against Newcastle, that was an abomination.
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“Against a really good Roosters team they went with them for 50 minutes.”
The Daily Telegraph’s Dean Ritchie echoed Read’s sentiment, believing four rounds into a season was too early to make the defining call.
“I thought it was too soon personally… I think if you install a coach for an entire year, 2026 in this case, I think you deserve longer than three games,” Ritchie said.
“I wouldn’t have minded it in games eight, nine or 10 when you can look back and make a judgement.
“I know it was a continuation of last year, but as the same time I think three games was harsh.”
The Sea Eagles’ lacklustre start to the season could come down to “rumours” surrounding Seibold’s relationship with the playing group.
According to Read, it’s not news that word has leaked out of Manly camp that Seibold lost the respect of his players.
However, Tom Trbojevic was posed that very question on Monday and silenced that suggestion.
“Tommy got asked that question, he said no. Tom is a very honest young man,” Read explained.
“(Penn) probably asked the player’s viewpoint, lets not be naive. We have all heard the rumours over the past 12 or six months that same players aren’t on the same page as Seibold.
“They have been around for a long time. Regardless of that, I think making a decision now after three games is ridiculous.”
But for NRL legend Gorden Tallis, Penn simply had no choice — because by keeping Seibold, he risked losing more key players.
Both Tom Trbojevic and Jake Trbojevic have been linked with moves to the Super League in recent years, while Cherry-Evans stunned the NRL world when his switch was unveiled.
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“Keep him? And then you lose all the players,” Tallis said.
“You just had their captain walk out last year, so you want the Trbojevic brothers (to go)?”
Another factor that came into Manly’s decision was the departure of Tony Mestrov and the appointment of Jason King.
Mestrov and Seibold shared a close relationship, but once he left, the writing was on the wall according to Read.
Sharing Read and Ritchie’s sentiment was off-season recruit Jamal Fogarty, who has been tasked with filling the No.7 jersey in the absence of Cherry-Evans.
He delivered some strong comments when quizzed on the club’s decision on Monday, saying: “I thought to be sacked after three is pretty harsh. If I was an owner of an organisation I would like to see him have an opportunity to turn it around.
“It’s not him out there knocking the ball on and stuff like that. We know as a playing group we have to be better because it’s just not the Manly standard.”
However, Brent Read believes the man who will slot into Seibold’s position, Foran, will do a brilliant job.
“We talk about a divided dressing room, players who don’t have the coaches back. They will have ‘Foz’s’ back,”
“The Trbojevic boys, they love him. That’s right now the most important thing, a coach who can unify the dressing room.
“You’ve seen Jamal’s quotes right, there’s a guy who is clearly unhappy that Seibold is gone. But I imagine a guy who respects Foran immensely.
“I think that’s the key, Foran will bring the dressing room together.”
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